The Civil Engineering Contractor April 2019 | Page 24

FEATURE: INFRASTRUCTURE
in Africa, he cautions that current
trends in the sector could result in
this country losing its advantage —
with Cape Town and Durban ports
already losing business to Walvis Bay.
“There had been talk of the Port
of Cape Town positioning itself for
repairs to the West African oil and
gas market, but nothing materialised.
In the meantime, the Port of Walvis
Bay has actually invested in the same
idea, and its closer proximity to West
Africa means it is in the process of
cornering that market, as well as
attracting Zambian copper through
its rail corridor,” says Hartwell.
The opportunity in Africa lies in
the massive shortfall in infrastructure,
with different countries responding
to the need in diverse ways: “Some are
building infrastructure themselves;
some are allowing the Chinese to
do it and accepting the debt; while
others are simply doing nothing.
This comes in the context of an
important theme in the container
industry: there has been substantial
consolidation of container lines, with
expectations that within five years,
the top five lines will control 60%
of the global market, giving them
enormous power,” Hartwell adds.
Like the airline industry before
it, the ocean transport industry is
establishing a hub-and-spoke concept
with large ships sailing between hubs,
and smaller vessels fanning out to
lesser ports. Hartwell, who began life
as a ship’s captain before switching
to law, says the truly monster ships
of today carry 24 000 containers
compared to 2 000 in his day.
Africa will need a number of hubs,
and Hartwell says the opportunity
currently exists for “first movers”.
While Durban is well ahead, it
nonetheless cannot serve the largest
ships which draw 16m. Harbour
channels will have to be dredged,
and adequate inland transport
corridors established by any country
wishing to host a port hub. A few
African countries have already put
their hand up.
Pieter van der Merwe, managing
director of Xcentric Rippers, says the
technology is available in South Africa
to be used on dredge applications.
“The use of our Xcentric Rippers
connected to an excavator on a
floating barge, can deepen berths
and break up rock on the ocean
floor. The ripper is completely sealed
and can work underwater with no
contamination.” While the technology
is not currently being used on dredge
applications in South Africa, he says
it is employed in Iceland, Columbia,
the Netherlands, and the Dominican
Republic.
“The actual depth we can go to
depends on the configuration and
size of the carrier. The deeper the
required depth, the bigger the carrier
needs to be, which is expensive, and
therefore requires a large contract to
warrant the cost. However, the high
efficiency and low maintenance cost
of the ripper, is normally a big game
changer, especially in demanding
and challenging applications, such as
dredging.”
Hartwell says: “First movers will
have a huge advantage, and if South
South Africa’s most recent international airport, in Durban.
22 | CEC April 2019
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