Durban - Repairs to Durban’s 90-year-old dry dock will be completed before the end of November, Transnet announced on Wednesday.
In a statement, Durban Port Manager Moshe Motlohi said that initially it had been expected that repairs to the Prince Edward Graving Dry Dock would be fully completed by the end of December, following delays to the repair of hospital ship Africa Mercy that was already in the dry dock.
However, the dry dock, which has not been in use since late August, is now expected to be fully operational by November 25.
“This is the third and final phase of a comprehensive repair programme on the dry dock’s outer caisson which was deemed unsafe and in need of repair. Work completed to date includes the refurbishment of certain sections of the 35-metre-long, 900-ton steel caisson and the installation of other new sections,” said Motlohi.
The caisson is a big steel lock gate that closes once a ship has entered the dry dock, sealing it off from the harbour, before the water is drained to allow work on the parts of a vessel that are usually below the water surface. The Durban dry dock has an outer caisson and an inner caisson, which allows the facility to accommodate either two small ships or one large ship.
ANA