Rehabilitation of Port of Durban, ZA | 2012

The Major Upgrade to the Port of Durban's Infrastructure in South Africa

The port of Durban is situated on the east coast of South Africa, in the KwaZulu-Natal Province. The port is the busiest on the African continent, and the biggest in terms of container capacity. 44 % of South Africa’s break-bulk cargo and 61 % of all containerised cargo flows through it. In 2010 the port handled 2.5 million TEU.

The port has 57 berths and is protected by the north and south breakwaters, which are 335 m and 700 m long respectively. It was developed primarily for import cargo but over the years, cargo flows have changed significantly and exports have become more important. 

Over 4 000 commercial vessels call at the port each year.

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Typical cross section at Maydon Wharf
Port of Durban
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The Maydon Wharf Multi-Purpose Terminal (MPT) handles a variety of containerised, break-bulk and bulk cargo, and specializes in the handling of specific commodities. Additionally the terminal also handles both import and export containers, handling on average 15 000 TEU’s. The terminal has an annual throughput of more than 1 million tons of break-bulk and neo-bulk commodities. The Maydon Wharf area consists of 15 berths, the MPT operates principally between Berth 8 and 13.

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has initiated a massive upgrading of the infrastructure at the port. One of the major projects is to rebuild and deepen 7 of the 15 berths at the Maydon Wharf area. The new quays are to accommodate larger vessels and to provide suitable load carrying capacity for the handling of cargos over the berths.

The quay wall has been built with the new HZM/AZ combined wall system: over 2 800 tonnes of HZ 1180M A-24 king piles and 440 tonnes of AZ 18-700 sheet pile pairs as intermediary piles. A high strength steel grade S 430 GP (430 MPa yield strength) has been chosen by the design engineer in order to optimize the steel quantities needed. The combi-wall system is anchored with tie-rods to a reinforced concrete anchor wall. The new quay wall and capping beam were designed to put up a future front rail for a container gantry crane.

The HZM king piles are 27.3 m long, with a weight of 22.8 tonnes each. They were driven to depth with a free hanging vibratory hammer with variable frequency, suspended on an hydraulic crawler crane Kobelco CKE 1800 and an impact hammer.

The structure is designed to have a service life of 50 years and cathodic protection with sacrificial anodes was chosen to protect the immersion zone. 

The anodes were installed under water on plates welded to the AZ sheet piles prior to driving. The concrete capping beam was placed below the 'Low Water Level' to protect the steel above this level. The tie-rods were also supplied by

ArcelorMittal as part of the foundation solutions package, and were fixed with a specific T-connector to the HZM king pile. The tie-rods have M 115 threads, a 90 mm diameter shaft, 500 mm long upset threads on one end, and eye tie-rods on the other end, with a yield strength of 500 MPa.