The port of Cape Town, South Africa, has launched a US$645 million project that will more than double its container-handling capacity in the next four years.
The goal of the project is to upgrade the container terminal to a modern deep-water four-berth terminal that can handle 1.4-million TEUs a year.
While approval has been given for the first two phases, a third phase was included in the planning to increase capacity to two million TEUs within the existing port.
The expansion was needed to keep up with growth in worldwide container traffic. While South Africa initially expected annual container volume growth of eight to 10 percent, growth in the past three years averaged 15 percent.
News of the expansion comes two months after South Africa's Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk issued a directive turning down the enlargement of the port, but giving approval for the container terminal to expand on the port's existing footprint.
Instead of building more berths, the port will dredge the existing berths to 51 ft and introduce modern cranes and other technologies which would enable it to increase throughput. Plans also call for the port to be reconfigured, to improve efficiency.
The project received final approval from South Africa's Transnet board this month, and tenders have been awarded for the construction and basin deepening. A consortium of WBHO Construction and local company Civil and Coastal has been awarded the tenders, and the consortium in turn subcontracted Danish firm Rohde Nielsen to do the dredging work.
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