Infrastructure
Reasoning behind a new port area (the North Port)
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Current port is boxed in by lagoon, the town, and the
fishing industry;
Current expansion of the existing port focuses on increasing
the container handling capacity, while the bulk and break-bulk
as well as ship and rig repair activities are not looked at on the
same scale due to cost of land reclamation;
Bulk cargo handling terminals require a large land space,
which the current port does not have;
Namibia needs a deep-water seaport at Walvis Bay with
sufficient bulk handling capacity to cater for the demand of
importing and exporting of mining-related cargo;
Should commercially extractable oil be discovered off the shore
of Namibia, the current port will not be able to accommodate
the oil exploration and drilling industry requirements;
The current port’s liquid bulk handling facilities are too small
to cater for the huge demand from SADC countries to import
fuel and bulk cargo; and
Several mega projects that have surfaced in the past few years
will simply not get off the ground without the development of
the North Port. Some of these projects include the Trans-
Kalahari Railway Line, Botswana coal exports, mega logistics
parks in Namibia, Namibia crude oil industry, large-scale
Namibian mining product exports, iron ore exports from
Namibia, and many more.
42 AFRICAN MINING JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2019
Land is being reclaimed for expansions on what is known as North Port.
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