Progress update on Cape Town container terminal expansion
Transnet Port Terminal's ZAR 5.4 billion five-year expansion program at the Cape Town container terminal continues to transform South Africa's second largest container facility into a modern facility capable of handling nearly double its existing cargo capacity by 2012.
Major dredging, deepening and refurbishment work on the second of four berths is well underway and will be completed by May 2011. The first 100 metres of Berth 602 was recently handed over to terminal operations. This, along with the already refurbished Berth 601, gives the terminal 420 metres of berth space.
According to Velile Dube, Transnet Port Terminal (TPT), Western Province Terminal executive, the most significant challenge has been the complexity of maintaining uninterrupted operations at the container terminal while it is effectively a construction site.
The upgrades to all four berths and the Ben Schoeman Basin will enable larger new generation vessels to enter and berth safely at the container facility.
Inside the terminal, the fleet of harbour cranes has been beefed up to improve container handling efficiency. The fifth and sixth Liebherr ship-to-shore cranes were commissioned last month and worked on their first vessel on August 30th.
The fleet of straddle carriers in Cape Town is also being phased out in favour of massive RTG cranes, which make better use of limited space by stacking six rows wide, five containers high and thirty deep. To date, twenty RTGs have been commissioned and handed over to the terminal, with the remaining eight scheduled for handover between end-September and end-October.
Four more RTGs and some of the straddle carriers are being transferred to Durban's container terminals.
864 reefer plug points in reefer block 1 were handed over on August 26th. The overall expansion program will result in three reefer stacks with a total of 2,712 reefer points served by gantry cranes.
Dube said that the five-year expansion project is one of several TPT projects taking place within South Africa's container sector, with the aim of creating additional capacity ahead of demand. By 2012, the capacity of the terminal will be 1.4 million TEU, nearly double its existing 740,000 TEU capability.
Major dredging, deepening and refurbishment work on the second of four berths is well underway and will be completed by May 2011. The first 100 metres of Berth 602 was recently handed over to terminal operations. This, along with the already refurbished Berth 601, gives the terminal 420 metres of berth space.
According to Velile Dube, Transnet Port Terminal (TPT), Western Province Terminal executive, the most significant challenge has been the complexity of maintaining uninterrupted operations at the container terminal while it is effectively a construction site.
The upgrades to all four berths and the Ben Schoeman Basin will enable larger new generation vessels to enter and berth safely at the container facility.
Inside the terminal, the fleet of harbour cranes has been beefed up to improve container handling efficiency. The fifth and sixth Liebherr ship-to-shore cranes were commissioned last month and worked on their first vessel on August 30th.
The fleet of straddle carriers in Cape Town is also being phased out in favour of massive RTG cranes, which make better use of limited space by stacking six rows wide, five containers high and thirty deep. To date, twenty RTGs have been commissioned and handed over to the terminal, with the remaining eight scheduled for handover between end-September and end-October.
Four more RTGs and some of the straddle carriers are being transferred to Durban's container terminals.
864 reefer plug points in reefer block 1 were handed over on August 26th. The overall expansion program will result in three reefer stacks with a total of 2,712 reefer points served by gantry cranes.
Dube said that the five-year expansion project is one of several TPT projects taking place within South Africa's container sector, with the aim of creating additional capacity ahead of demand. By 2012, the capacity of the terminal will be 1.4 million TEU, nearly double its existing 740,000 TEU capability.
