South Africa's new deep-water harbour, the port of Ngqura near Port Elizabeth, launched operations last week when its first commercial customer, the MSC Catania, docked at the port.

The port is an integral part of the Coega Industrial Development Zone, a new initiative that aims to boost the regional economy of the Eastern Cape province.

The 300-metre long and 13-metre deep ship was used to test vessel operators' skills in offloading and handling containers. After months in training, two teams of operators — with a third on standby — succeeded at their first commercial offloading, using the port's state-of-the-art Liebherr ship-to-shore cranes. The MSC Catania loaded and off-loaded 275 containers, with an average of 19 containers handled per hour.

"We are pleased to report that it was all smooth sailing today in terms of portside operations at Ngqura," Tau Morwe, chief executive of Transnet Port Terminals, said after the inauguration on 4 October.

Ready to take port to the next level

"This experimental start-up indicates we are ready to take the port to the next level." Transnet Port Terminals is a division of Transnet, the parastatal company that runs South Africa's national transport infrastructure. Alleviating container congestion

The Ngqura Port, which lies at the mouth of the Coega River in Algoa Bay, is the country's eighth and latest commercial port development.

It has an advantage over other ports in Africa in that it is a deep-water port with a depth of between 16 and 18 metres. This means it can accommodate new generation container vessels and will allow Transnet to increase capacity for container volumes.

The improved infrastructure will relieve container congestion in the South African port system, while attracting additional transhipment cargo. Transnet says the new port is the solution to South Africa's lack of container capacity that has been strained by a considerable growth in container traffic.

Good inland connectivity

A Transnet statement explained that the Ngqura container terminal will have the capacity to accommodate "Ultra-Mega" ships carrying 6000 to 10 000 TEUs — 20-foot equivalent units, a measure used for capacity in container transport. It will be able to handle more than 100 container moves per ship working hour, with sufficient stack and berth capacity to cater for future growth up to 2 million TEUs. The terminal also boasts good inland connectivity for import and export traffic through road and rail.

South Africa's freight transport system. Sishen is a massive iron-ore mine in the Northern Cape, while City Deep in Johannesburg is the country's only inland terminal. The port of Maputo is in the neighbouring country of Mozambique.

Transnet has to date invested more than R10-billion ($1.36-billion) to develop the state-of-the-art port and associated infrastructure. This includes a world class two-berth container terminal (and a further two berths under construction), a two-berth multipurpose terminal and a one-berth liquid bulk terminal.

The new port is also a safer alternative for ships wanting to avoid the Somalia coast, which has recently been plagued by pirates.

It could also serve as a "feeder" or "loading centre" for other destinations. The container node would function as a hub where large freight ships could unload their cargo for further distribution by road, sea or rail to other destinations in Africa.

Economic development and trade

The port is considered the most modern harbour in Africa. Although sub-Saharan Africa has a number of smaller ports, these are only suitable for medium-sized ships.

It will not only boost the economy of the Eastern Cape; it is also an important development for trade in South Africa and the rest of Africa as a whole.

Building economist Dr Johan Snyman said the new harbour development is a rare construction project. Although the upgrading of some of South Africa's other harbours is underway, Ngqura is the first new harbour development in many years.

Rob Jeffrey, a director and senior economist at Econometrix, said that the promotion of industrial development at the Coega Industrial Development Zone would have a considerable impact on the underdeveloped Eastern Cape. It is likely to boost the gross regional product of the province and significantly increase growth in the Nelson Mandela Metro area, the broader municipality into which Port Elizabeth falls.

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