Expansion of the Walvis Bay Container Terminal

After its harbour was deepened in 2000, the Port of Walvis Bay in Namibia has been attracting more container cargo. The container throughput increased from 40,000 TEU in 2003 to 200,000 TEU in 2008 with an average of 38% growth per annum since 2003. The harbour is benefiting from high quality hinterland connections like the trans-Cunene, trans-Caprivi and trans-Kalahari corridors that connect Namibia with its neighbouring countries and which were upgraded in recent years. In 2008, 67% of the containers handled in Walvis Bay were dedicated to transhipment or transit to neighbouring countries. The harbour's throughput exceeded 250,000 TEU in 2009.  

To ensure that the Port of Walvis Bay will continue to play the role of a container transhipment hub on the southwest coast of Africa as well as the role of a gateway to the land-locked countries Botswana, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe, the state-owned Namibian Ports Authority (NamPort) has launched a new container terminal project laid offshore at the south end of the port premises. The total project cost is estimated at an equivalent of 200 million EUR including dredging, infrastructure and handling equipment. The new container terminal would increase NamPort's annual container handling capacity from 250,000 TEU to more than 500,000 TEU. Berthing is at present limited to 3,500 TEU container vessels.  The Ports Authority has approached the EIB, AFD, KfW and the Development Bank of Southern Africa as potential lenders for assistance in complementing the assessment of the financial and economic feasibility of the project as well as the analysis of different investment and operating options.  

The ITF Grant approved for the preparation of this project will be used to assist NamPort in assessing the commercial risk and the financial sustainability of the project in various options and designing a financial model for the ports authority itself. The services entail four interrelated modules, namely a detailed market forecast study for the Walvis Bay container terminal, an economic analysis, a comparison of options for investing into and operating the new container terminal, including public-private partnerships; drafting the tender documents for the preferred option and the financial modelling for NamPort taken as a whole and for the container terminal.