Cape Town - Work has started on the R4.2 billion upgrade to the Port of Cape Town's container terminal, South Africa's state-owned transport company, Transnet said on Wednesday.
The five-year project will almost double the capacity of the facility, South Africa's second-largest container terminal after Durban.
"The expansion is expected to relieve mounting pressure at the country's ports by enabling the terminal to improve from the current 740 000 TEUs per annum to 1 4 million TEUs by the end of 2012," Transnet Port Terminals said in a statement.
TEU stands for twenty-foot equivalent unit -- the standard length of a container.
The initial construction work will entail refurbishing the quay and deepening the berth and Ben Schoeman Basin to 15.5 metres. The harbour will also be dredged to allow bigger vessels to enter.
"In its entirety, the project includes the demolition of nonessential infrastructure and buildings, reconfiguration of the terminal to maximise stack capacity, a reefer-point expansion programme, as well as the procurement of new, specialised equipment."
Transnet Port Terminals said this would include Liebherr ship-to-shore cranes and 32 high-tech rubber-tyred gantry cranes.
The quayline would be extended by 10 metres to accommodate the new cranes.
According to the statement, work at the container terminal will not be impeded by the construction. - Sapa