Group Five to expand the Durban harbour
Construction company Group Five said yesterday it had been awarded a R1,8bn contract by Transnet to expand the Durban harbour, as part of the parastatal's R78bn capital investment programme to improve the capacity and efficiency of its ports, rail and petroleum pipeline business in the next five years.
Group Five's MD of civil engineering operations, Andrew McJannet, said the harbour would be widened by 100m and deepened by 6m.
Transnet CEO Maria Ramos said last week that the expansion of the port of Durban and the building of Durban's new container terminal, Pier 1, was aimed at creating capacity in anticipation of increased demand.
Ramos said Transnet would spend altogether R28bn on ports infrastructure, of which R2,6bn would be used to widen and deepen the entrance channel of the port of Durban.
Transnet said improved operational efficiency and staff productivity would help to lower the cost of doing business in SA. The port expansion would result in a sharp rise in volume the Durban container terminal handled.
The container terminal was projected to move about 2,5-million 20-foot-equivalent containers (TEUs) a year next year, a 42% increase on the current volume of 1,4-million TEUs.
The South African Ports Operation (Sapo) said in January the Durban and Pier 1 container terminals would have a capacity of more than 3-million TEUs by December.
Transnet's seven commercial ports handle 96% of all imports and exports in SA, with the Durban harbour carrying the heaviest traffic at 67%. With the acquisition of a new fleet of straddle carriers and gantry cranes for the port of Durban, Sapo said it could move containers faster.
Mervin Chetty, executive manager of corporate strategy at Sapo, said: "Vessel productivity has increased from 19% to 84%, and the average turnaround time of trucks is now 23 minutes, compared with 50 minutes in 2002."
In 2002, shipping companies imposed a $100 surcharge on Sapo for delays at the port of Durban. The surcharge, to pay for delays lasting up to four times the international benchmark of 16 hours, was lifted in 2005.
Group Five's partner on the project, Dredging International, has sent a new, hi-tech dredger from Belgium that can move 5000m' of rock and silt an hour so 7-million cubic metres can be moved over the next two years.
Group Five CEO Mike Upton said: "This is the third major contract in Kwazulu-Natal awarded to the group since the beginning of 2007. We have already started on the 2010 Durban soccer stadium, in consortium with WBHO and Pandev, and have recently signed the contract for the R6,8bn King Shaka Airport, in which Group Five is the lead contractor for the Ilembe Consortium which includes WBHO and the KZN Empowerment Group."
He said work on the harbour had started, with demolition of structures and establishing a pre cast concrete yard near the site where the blocks for the contract would be cast. The contract is due for completion in May 2010.
Group Five's MD of civil engineering operations, Andrew McJannet, said the harbour would be widened by 100m and deepened by 6m.
Transnet CEO Maria Ramos said last week that the expansion of the port of Durban and the building of Durban's new container terminal, Pier 1, was aimed at creating capacity in anticipation of increased demand.
Ramos said Transnet would spend altogether R28bn on ports infrastructure, of which R2,6bn would be used to widen and deepen the entrance channel of the port of Durban.
Transnet said improved operational efficiency and staff productivity would help to lower the cost of doing business in SA. The port expansion would result in a sharp rise in volume the Durban container terminal handled.
The container terminal was projected to move about 2,5-million 20-foot-equivalent containers (TEUs) a year next year, a 42% increase on the current volume of 1,4-million TEUs.
The South African Ports Operation (Sapo) said in January the Durban and Pier 1 container terminals would have a capacity of more than 3-million TEUs by December.
Transnet's seven commercial ports handle 96% of all imports and exports in SA, with the Durban harbour carrying the heaviest traffic at 67%. With the acquisition of a new fleet of straddle carriers and gantry cranes for the port of Durban, Sapo said it could move containers faster.
Mervin Chetty, executive manager of corporate strategy at Sapo, said: "Vessel productivity has increased from 19% to 84%, and the average turnaround time of trucks is now 23 minutes, compared with 50 minutes in 2002."
In 2002, shipping companies imposed a $100 surcharge on Sapo for delays at the port of Durban. The surcharge, to pay for delays lasting up to four times the international benchmark of 16 hours, was lifted in 2005.
Group Five's partner on the project, Dredging International, has sent a new, hi-tech dredger from Belgium that can move 5000m' of rock and silt an hour so 7-million cubic metres can be moved over the next two years.
Group Five CEO Mike Upton said: "This is the third major contract in Kwazulu-Natal awarded to the group since the beginning of 2007. We have already started on the 2010 Durban soccer stadium, in consortium with WBHO and Pandev, and have recently signed the contract for the R6,8bn King Shaka Airport, in which Group Five is the lead contractor for the Ilembe Consortium which includes WBHO and the KZN Empowerment Group."
He said work on the harbour had started, with demolition of structures and establishing a pre cast concrete yard near the site where the blocks for the contract would be cast. The contract is due for completion in May 2010.