[040216.EN.BIZ] East and Southern Africa Expand Box Handling Facilities As Demand Rises

THE container trades in the region of East and Southern Africa, including the Indian Ocean islands, have a combined annual throughput of eight million TEU, according to a review by maritime consultancy Dynamar.

Together, countries of the region have seen full container volumes grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nine per cent since 2010 despite challenging conditions in many ports, in terms of infrastructure and other various bottlenecks, mainly associated with inland transport, reported London's Container Management.

Over the same period the value of this region's merchandise trade has expanded by 26 per cent to US$385 billion.

Preparing for a buoyant future, many ports in the region are ramping up both their marine facilities and inland connections.

Mombasa, which expects its current one million TEU throughput to double by 2020, is building a new 1.2 million TEU container terminal, after recently expanding its existing one.

Its rival for various inland destinations, Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, has longstanding plans to build a new, 600,000 TEU container facility, doubling present capacity. In addition, some multipurpose berths will be strengthened to handle containers.

China Merchants (Holding) International and Oman have jointly funded US$11 billion to build a 20 million TEU capacity container port at Bagamoyo, 75 kilometres north of Dar-es-Salaam. However, preference may be given to the port of Mtwara, near the border with Mozambique.

The Mauritius Container Terminal at Port Louis is being expanded to accommodate one million TEU by 2025, around double the present volume of which 55 per cent is transhipment. And in South Africa's Durban the building of a new, 9.6 million TEU capacity port at the site of the former airport is to start by 2021.

Source : HKSG.