Durban harbour widening on track for 2010 completion
The Port of Durban’ s 300 million rand harbour entrance widening project, which started in the third quarter of 2007, is due for completion in April 2010, according to Allan Wijnberg, the director of design consultancy Prestedge Retief Dresner Wijnberg.
The project, which was commissioned by Transnet, will widen the entrance from 120m to 220m and deepen it from 12.8m to 19m at its deepest point. This will allow 9,000 TEU container vessels to safely navigate the entrance. At present, the largest vessels that can be accommodated are limited to 4,000 TEU.
The project requires dredging of 8m cu/m of sand to widen and deepen the entrance channel.
