Windhoek — With the planned N$1.7 billion expansion of the Walvis Bay container terminal, the port is destined to become a port of choice in the SADC region and will in fact become a "gateway into southern Africa".

The Port of Walvis Bay's position as a hub port is further enhanced by three other development projects, namely the expansion of the Walvis Bay Ship and Rig Repair Yard, the new Marine Petroleum Offloading Facility and the Walvis Bay Marina Development.

According to Elzevir Gelderbloem, Namport's project manager for the expansion of the container terminal, the need for the new container terminal facility was been identified more than three years ago.

"The Port of Walvis Bay has no berths at present that are capable of handling large container vessels with greater than 3 500 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) capacity. The size of container ships is evermore increasing with an even larger expected growth in the volume of container throughput," he said.

According to Gelderbloem, about 25% of the throughput volumes will be from landlocked countries in southern and Central Africa and 60% from transhipment to other ports.

With only two container berths and a total maximum existing water depth of 12.8 metres Namport expects that the existing facility will reach its full capacity, with no possibility of expansion, by 2011.

After analysing several options for the expansion project, Namport opted for land reclamation in the south of the existing port's bulk cargo berths.

According to Gelderbloem, land reclamation has the advantage of allowing huge scope for future expansion as well as having no operational interruptions at the current container terminal during the construction phase.

"However," he said, "there are always risks to any project of this scale. One of these being high project costs as dredging and land reclamation is expensive."

An estimated N$1.25 billion for material and civil works, as well as N$450 million for equipment to enhance storage and time efficiency put the estimated cost of the project at N$1.7 billion.

According to Gelderbloem, only international dredging/reclamation and marine civil contractors can undertake this highly specialised work.

"For the major construction contract, we anticipate that international money will be [the] cheapest since we qualify for soft loans from international development banks. But we might source funding for short-term assets such as equipment from local and/or national sources. We have also sparked interest for financing from countries such as Russia, France, Germany, South Africa, China, Korea and Japan," he said.

Another risk is the possible environmental impact of the project. Currently a team of international consultants is carrying out a very detailed and comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment Study. More light would be shed on these impacts with the finalisation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report later in the year.

Besides the benefits for investors, direct national regional and local benefits and spin-offs are foreseen. According to a background information document on the project, the main benefits will be the growth of the Namibian and regional economy by bringing down the cost of transporting goods through the Port of Walvis Bay.

"The creation of a large hub container terminal will add a competitive edge to our current operations," said Gelderbloem.

More cargo to and from landlocked countries in southern Africa will result in benefits for the entire region from subsequent road and rail upgrade projects becoming feasible due to increased cargo volumes.

More direct and indirect employment opportunities for skilled, semi-skilled and skilled workers will be provided.

"There will be temporary employment of especially local unskilled and semi-skilled labour during construction. Permanent employment of semi-skilled and skilled to highly skilled labour will take place after construction when operations start. We foresee a permanent staff complement of 273 in 2015," he said.

It will provide opportunities for Namibians to be trained in operating and servicing the highly specialised container handling equipment.

"Expansion and even the latest and best equipment and technology alone does not guarantee increased effectiveness and sustained competitiveness. We need to invest in our human capital, locally, regionally and nationally. Therefore we will embark on a training programme to ensure that the necessary skills are available at completion of the project. "

A public participation process is currently underway.