Billion rand expansion.

Expenditure of R1.3bn for a three-phase container terminal expansion at Durban harbour will reduce shipping costs and position the port competitively in global maritime trade. The project is part of the government's overall strategy to reduce the cost of doing business in South Africa.

Further steps to encourage marine merchant traffic include an immediate reduction in wharfage charges. New, more attractive tariffs come into effect at the end of the year.

The R507m first stage includes three new quayside cranes and 20 new straddle carriers, replacement of equipment in the existing container terminal and infrastructural improvements. This will increase the container terminal's handling capacity from 1.3m 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to l.6m TEUs a year.

The R564m second phase will develop the ports city terminal. This will involve the construction of new deep-water quays, as well as remodelling terminal infrastructure and layout and providing new and replacement equipment.

The third leg involves the R273m conversion of Pier 1 for container handling with the conversion of infrastructure and acquisition of new equipment.

"Given the diversity of Durban's facilities and services, it is not surprising that the port acts as a site for the creation and maintenance of jobs, revenue and investment," says the authoritative Durban Economic Review.

The range of activities directly and indirectly associated with the port include a long list of vessel and cargo related activity.

The port and its related industries employ a minimum of 31,000 people; this amounted to a wage bill of approximately R950m per annum in 1994. Port revenue is in the order of R2bn in 2000, accounting for about 65% of the value of all port revenue in South Africa. It has been estimated that the port generates R3.5bn in aggregate annual local expenditure (at 1994 prices).

Indian Ocean hub

A growing container shipping industry structured around complex inter-connected regional and global services could focus its Indian Ocean operations on hub ports as far afield as Dubai, Singapore or Colombo.

Consequently, capacity and investment decisions taken in Durban will largely determine whether the port moves strongly into the 21st century.

"The port's future expansion and status is of immense importance to the local Durban economy and the community that the metropolitan economy supports," notes the Review.

Both public and private sectors recognise the role Durban plays in the economy not only of KwaZulu-Natal, but to the national economy as a whole. It is also a major entry and exit point for much of its regional neighbours' maritime trade.

OF SHARKS AND WHALES

The KwaZulu-Natal Sharks Board is situated on the north coast near Umhlanga Rocks, about 15km from Durban. It is one of the foremost marine research facilities of its kind in the world, and conducts intensive and ongoing studies into the habits of this much maligned sea creature. Tours of the facility aim to educate the public about sharks and their conservation.

The Board is also responsible for installing and maintaining the shark nets that provide Durban and other coastal resorts with some of the safest tropical swimming beaches to be found anywhere.

Shark nets, which are strung across bathing areas, have their disadvantages because of the injuries they cause to other marine life such as dolphins. The Board continuously experiments with other types of protection against sharks, such as electric barriers and an electric shark repellant, known as the pod. The pod, about 10cm long is mounted on divers' airbottles and repels sharks within a radius of one to 20 metres. A miniature model that can be attached to surfboards is in research.

A new addition to the province's marine animal tourist route is whale-watching. The majestic mammals visit the KwaZulu-Natal coast regularly, but it's only this year that the provincial tourism authority has begun promoting the spectacle. The province is now officially on the South African whale-watch route.

Says Robbie Naidoo, KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority corporate affairs manager: "People don't realise that large numbers of whales migrate through this province en route to Madagascar and Mozambique. In fact, larger numbers of hump-backed whales off the KwaZulu-Natal coast than off the Cape coastline. As a start the Whale Route organisation will put up 30 educational boards throughout the province, at whale-watching spots and provide the public with information regarding these incredible creatures of the sea."