The first container and cargo ships could tie up alongside at Namport’s new container terminal on reclaimed land in the port of Walvis Bay by the close of May 2017, the acting project manager, Yuanfei Feng of China Harbour and Engineering Company (CHEC) said. Also addressing the media was Namport CEO Bisey Uirab.

With the last dredging- and land reclamation works on the container island due for completion on 4 February next year, Feng further explained the quay wall of the island would be completed by 11 April next year where-after the remaining months would be used to complete all building structures, transport infrastructure and ship to shore fabrication.

Namport is spending some N$3 billion on the container terminal project. Uirab explained the project should be read in the bigger context of Namibia’s Vision 2030, the 4th National Development Plan (NDP4) and Namibia’s more recent Transport Maritime Subsector Sectorial Execution Plan (TMSSEP).

Whereas the NDP4 aims to stimulate economic growth, job creation and to end Namibia’s income disparity, and TMSSEP seeking Namibia to develop its public infrastructure for transport and logistics, Namport is seen as one of the “enablers” to put these targets into practical action.

Adding two of the major objectives set for Namport is to double cargo throughput by 2017 from 2012’s annual cargo volumes and to ensure that Namibia’s landlocked neighbouring countries have access to the Atlantic sea routes through Namibian ports, given the country’s strategic positioning in the SADC-trade set-up.

“You will realise these targets speaks directly to us at Namport,” said Uirab. “Therefore for Namport to deliver and to meet our targets we need capacity and that is one of the reasons why the container terminal on reclaimed land became a necessity,” said Uirab, describing the terminal on reclaimed land as super infrastructure. In his address, Feng further said by the end of the construction project more than N$1 billion would have been spent on Namibian suppliers and service providers. The main areas of spending are information technology, uniforms, camp construction and a power substation for the new terminal.

Furthermore more than 700 Namibians would have benefitted directly from training programmes conducted by CHEC in the course of them either employed or contracted by the company.