In a bid to deter ships from traversing the Suez Canal, the Port of Durban in South Africa has started an excavation project to triple its capacity to handle large container ships.
Mark Gregg-MacDonald, an Executive at South African state transport company Transnet SOC said that global maritime traffic is increasingly dominated by large vessels that need to be serviced at specialised deep ports.
Gregg-MacDonald said: “More than 70% of all container ships currently being built are larger than 8,000 TEU, a far cry from five, 10 years ago.
“It’s more cost effective to sail modern, large container vessels around the Cape than through the Suez Canal.”
Dredging work at the Port in Durban started in 2012 and the first phase is due to be completed by 2025.
Bloomberg reported Gregg-MacDonald as saying the port expansion will contribute at least US$1.4 billion to the South African economy.
(Source: Earth Imagico)
