The harbour is formed by a low lying sand peninsula, the Walvis Peninsula leading to Pelican Point. The harbour is approximately 9 km wide at the entrance, and 12 km long (although the southern half is a very shallow lagoon). The port facilities are well protected by the Walvis Peninsula against the mainly south-west swell. The most northern point of the peninsula is changing its position by 15 m to 20 m to the north east caused by the coast-parallel drifting sands from the south west.

The Benguela current is passing Pelican Point in a northerly direction and causes in the Walvis Bay a circular flow which can expressively be observed during strong south westerly wind conditions. These circular currents do not cause any disadvantageous effects in the port itself but can eventually require additional tug boat assistance to ships during turning and warping manoeuvres.

The Walvis Bay circular flow current crosses the dredged approach channel to the port with 0,5 to 1 kn [9] in a south westerly direction. During spring tides the low tide current flowing in a north easterly direction can reach values up to 4 kn at the entrance to the lagoon. The tides are semidiurnal tides. The difference in tidal ranges is between 0,6 m at neap tide and 1,6 m at spring tide. The rise of the tide is referred to the zero reading of the Chart Datum for the lowest spring tide low water.

The principal wind direction is south to south west with 50% probability, for approximately 30% there are no winds. The for the port operations unfavourable north to north west winds (10 % probability) are of little force and do not affect unduly the port operations. Gale force winds can be encountered during an average of 9 days per year.

The mean annual precipitation is 13 mm per year, on 6 days per year a rainfall height of 1 mm or more can be experienced. Fog conditions can be frequently encountered, especially in the morning hours but during the late morning hours the fog disappears normally in the vicinity of Walvis Bay. Reduced sight distances (sight distance less than 2 sm) due to fog can be found during approximately 900 hours per year.

The main navigation aid to approach the Port of Walvis Bay is the light house at Pelican Point. There are radar reflectors and a radar reply buoy installed. One sea mile north of Pelican Point is a spar buoy which has to be by-passed in order to approach the steering buoy at Fairway. From this buoy the approach channel (length 3,4 km; width 134 m and 10,0 m depth CD) will be navigated under 183^o. The water depth at the entrance to the harbour is 20 m, but the depth decreases steadily and the approaches to the port are maintained through dredged channels. The approach channel is safeguarded by different navigation aids like different types of buoys and in the channel centre line a radio navigation line is established. The navigation aids are provided under the rules of the "International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (IALA)" [10].

The natural harbour provides adequate protection for the commercial wharves at the port, although at times long period swells caused by the circular flow in the bay can cause problems for vessels moored alongside as outlined above. The fishing wharves are located north-east of the commercial wharves, and are more exposed to north-westerly wave action. A small breakwater has been constructed to protect some of these wharves.

The approach channel is leading to the tanker jetty and the eight commercial wharves and the fishing port. The fishing port can also be reached via a second buoyed approach channel (length 1,1 km; width 80 m and depth 6,75 m CD). The maximum accepted length of vessels for the commercial port is 230 m, exemptions can be approved.

 The subsoil conditions in the port area can be described as silt with some sands and clays. The water depth at the wharf position in the Commercial Port for vessels is 10 m. The port contains 8 berths, with a total wharf length of about 1.400 m. The channel has been dredged to 10,05 m (below low tide datum), whilst the berths have been dredged to 10,67 m depth, permitting vessels with draft up to 10,4 m to use the port. The permissible underkeel clearance is 0,6 m. Exemptions are possible. The berths 1 to 3 have a total length of 463 m. A further deepening to -12,00 m is possible without risking the structural stability of the berth structures. The berths 4 to 8 are aligned in an skew angel of 17^o against berths 1 to 3. The total length is 911 m. A further deepening with 0,60 m is possible without risking the structural stability of the berth structures. The small craft harbour is situated north east of berth 1.

The port also contains a dolphin-type tanker jetty which can take vessels with a length between 128 m and 192 m (i.e. approx. 7.000 to 25.000 dwt). The fuel is pumped to large storage tanks. Due to the endangered structural stability of the structures a lowering of the depth of more than -10,67 m is not possible.

The port is fully equipped with the necessary harbour craft, storage facilities and cranage to handle the goods that are moved through the port.

There are three sheds (B-Cargo Shed, Cold Store, D-Cargo Shed) in the commercial port which were originally envisaged for general cargo. They are structurally equal and have a ground area of nearly 4.000 m². Their usage changed considerably from general cargo to other purposes. The shed behind berth 5 was recently changed to a cold store with an additional extension of 5.300 m² to the north east. Two steel tanks behind berth 6 with a content of 9.400 m³ are used for the storage of imported sulphuric acid for Rössing Uranium Limited. The tanks are connected with two pipelines (210 mm, 350 mm) to a railway connecting point. East of these tanks, behind berths 5 and 6 an open concrete storage for bulk-cargo is situated (Ore bin for Tsumeb Corporation Limited). The bulk cargo is transported via a sloped conveyer belt system to a variable loading point to the ship's hold. This handling system was originally planned for the export of copper ore and serves presently as intermediate storage and export point for salt (capacity: 30.000 t). The concrete storage has some structural deficiencies and rehabilitation has to be initiated.

A new bulk terminal is currently (January 1995: to be completed in April 1995) under construction. It is a joint venture project of MacPhail Namibia Holdings Limited and NamPort. The owning and operating joint venture company is to be known as Walvis Bay Bulk Terminal (Pty) Ltd and it will be capable of loading as well as off-loading cargo vessels at a rate of about 500 tons per hour. A new rail track is also under construction, quite some distance away from the quay and the new bulk terminal on completion can load freight trains at the same rate of 500 tons per hour. The loading system will have a highly efficient self-cleaning washing system enabling it to cope with a wide variety of bulk products such as coal, manganese, fertiliser, fluorspar, sodalite, salt, wheat, maize, cement clinker etc.

When the bulk terminal is completed, road and rail trucks will be off-loaded fast and efficiently by means of a bottom dump station. The product is then transported via the conveyor belt system to the various stockpiles and automatically stockpiled by means of a stacker and reclaimer. Reclaiming onto the conveyor system is done by the same stacker and reclaimer and the product is then transported to the ship loader where it is automatically loaded onto the ship. The conveyor belt system is designed in a ring system so that loading and off-loading of two separate ships with different products can be accomplished simultaneously. Products being off-loaded from the ship can be discharged directly into road or rail trucks or silos or go to open stockpiles.

The container terminal behind berths 7 and 8 consists of three blocks 77 m by 16,6, m. 216 open space storage places are used for 20' containers. They can be stacked 3 to 4 containers high. The total storage capacity is thus 648 20' containers. The container yard has 24 connections for freezing containers. The container storage site is paved with concrete interlocking stones while the access surfaces have bitumen surfacings.

All operational areas have bitumen surfacings. Some areas south west of the container terminal (surface area: 120.000 m² ) have no pavements and are used for the intermediate storage of coal. The areas south east of the container terminal (approx. 70.000 m² ) are presently not used but expansion plans are in existence.

Walvis Bay Port is connected by good road and rail connections to Swakopmund, which is in turn connected to the trunk road and rail systems of Namibia. The total railway track length in the port area (all 8 berths have direct rail connection) is approximately 27 km. The port is connected by road (13th Street north east and 5th Street south west) to the town of Walvis Bay. The port induced road traffic is not causing any hazard or noise pollution. A considerable portion of the goods traffic between port and the industrial areas north east of the 13th Street is not touching the living quarters of Walvis Bay while making use directly via 2nd and 3rd Street East.

The Walvis Bay Fishing Port is situated north east of the Commercial Port. The shore line has a length of 2,7 km while 2 km of it consists of an embankment which is protected by casted armour rocks. For a length of 700 m shore-parallel docking facilities are provided adjacent to several fish factories (design water depth: 7.00 m. below low tide datum, actual water depth: 6,00 m). Ninety degrees to the shore line docking facilities are provided in order to land fish on both sides and transport it to the adjacent private fish factories. The lengths of the piers is between 11 m and 80 m. The water depths along these piers is - 5,00 m and less. Due to the endangered structural stability of the docking structures a lowering of the depth of more than this water depth is not possible.

Fish factories require large volumes of water for cleaning but also when pumping the pelagic fish from the trawlers fishhold to the factory.

At present most wastewater is disposed directly into the sea untreated. The argument is that the foreign matter in the water is biodegradable. This might be so, but while the thin film of fish oil is preventing air into the sea water, living creatures die or move away. The former Walvis Bay Port Authority, PortNet, used to take mussel samples from the commercial quay to establish the level of industrial pollution in the water. Last year no mussels could be found.

The commercial harbour is not free of blame either. Stronger measures must be implemented to prevent bulk cargo spillage from blowing into the port during and immediately after loading or landing of bulk commodities.

The City of Walvis Bay's wastewaters are collected in a sewage disposal system and treated in a biological sewage treatment plant. Parts of the treated wastewaters are used for the watering of public gardens and parks in the town. Some of the wastewater effluent are lead to infiltration areas within the desert dunes in the hinterland.

In this section of the Study the cargo handling and transport equipments are dealt with as far as they are part of NamPort and owned by other private companies. The wharves have 14 rail mounted (rail gauge: 4,12 m) cranes on tracks parallel to the wharf, but these are largely being replaced by mobile cranes. Zinc and other ores are handled by an automated loading system, whilst other bulk materials are handled by a variety of more traditional means. The ore loader is operated by "Tsumeb Corporation Ltd." and has a capacity of 400 t per hour. Container are off-loaded by ship's gear onto trailers, which are towed to the stacking area where they are stacked by two rail mounted gantry cranes. It is understood that about 300 containers are handled per week (15.600 per year). The railway operates directly into the container stacking area, permitting direct loading of containers (and other cargo) onto railway wagons.

|==================================================================|
| BERTH NUMBER       | CRANE   | LIFTING CAPACITY | LIFTING RANGE  |
|                    |         | (t)              |(feet) (m)      | 
|--------------------|---------|------------------|----------------|
| BERTHS 1 -3        | 2 DEMAG |  4 t             | 100' 30,5 m    |
| RE-CONSTRUCTED     | 1982/84 |                  |                |
| AND EXPANDED:      | 3 DEMAG |  4 t             |  65' 19,5 m    |
| 1982 - 1984        | 1982/84 |                  |                |
|                    | 1 DEMAG | 15 t             |  55' 16,8 m    |
|                    | 1982/84 |                  |                |
|                    | 1 DORMAN| 15 t             |  60' 18,3 m    |
|                    | (KRUPP) |                  |                |
|                    | 1965    |                  |                |
|--------------------|---------|------------------|----------------|
| BERTHS 4 -8        | 2 DEMAG |  4 t             | 100' 30,5 m    |
| CONSTRUCTED        | 1982/84 |                  |                |
| 1959 - 1960        | (1 DEMAG Crane: jib removed for repairs)    |
|                    | 2 DEMAG |  4 t             |  65' 19,5 m    |
|                    | 1982/84 |                  |                |
|                    | 3 KRUPP |  4 t             |  65' 19,5 m    |
|                    | 1965    |                  |                |
|==================================================================|
SOURCE: Personal investigation by Deputy Minister for Works,
Transport and Communication on 12 March 1991

At berths 1 to 3 four cranes with 4 t lifting capacity are used. The operational capacity is satisfactory but they are in need of painting maintenance. Two further cranes (15 t lifting capacity), the one is in good and the other in bad shape, are supplying berths 2 and 3. Six cranes for berths 4 to 8 (one is not in a working condition at present) have a lifting capacity of 4 t. Painting maintenance is indicated for these cranes. All electrical installations, not the engines, have to rehabilitated.

The container terminal possesses two rail mounted container portal cranes (span width: 30,0 m; line load of rails: 22 t/m). They have a lifting capacity of 25 t each and were manufactured by "Wolff" in 1975. One crane was recently overhauled, the other is in good working condition. These cranes are only suitable for the handling of containers on land and not between ship and wharf.

Two front-end loaders (manufacturer: Wright, 1988) are mainly used for Shed B for the handling of fluorspar and are in good working condition. Two tractors (manufacturer: Bell, 1993) are mainly used for the shunting of railway goods waggons and are in very good condition. 18 Forklifts with lifting capacities between 3 t and 25 t are used. They were manufactured by various manufacturers between 1976 and 1991 and their conditions vary from good to bad. 11 Mechanical Horses are used. They were manufactured by various manufacturers between 1976 and 1993 and their conditions vary from very good to bad. Out of 23 trailers three trailers (1982) are suitable for the transport of 40' containers and 20 trailers (6: 1972; 10: 1982; 4: 1984) for the conveyance of 20' containers. All trailers older than 10 years have to be overhauled. A special container transporter for the transport of 20' containers (manufacturer: Deacon, 1989) is in a satisfactory technical shape.

The port is comprising of three tugs which were built between 1972 and 1975 and which were rehabilitated in the last three years. They all are in a very good technical shape. The two stronger tug boats are sea tugs while the smaller is used as a port tug and to transport pilots to the ships [11].

Two long-boats (1972 and 1974) are in a satisfactory shape. The larger one can transport up to 20 people, the smaller one can be used for the transport of the pilots.

NOTA: All Imports in the Port of Walvis Bay including Transit: 01.04 1993 - 31.03.1994

Table 8 shows all exports which were shipped via the Commercial Port of Walvis Bay for the period 01 April 1993 to 31 March 1994. The degree of containerisation was with 62% even higher than for import and transit movements. Exports to South Africa were 60% of the total exports. Main export commodities to South Africa were salt (approx. 280.000 t) and fish products (approx. 60.000 t).

NOTA to table 8: All Exports from the Port of Walvis Bay: 01.04 1993 - 31.03.1994

Table 9 shows the total throughput in the Commercial Port of Walvis Bay. During the last ten years the throughput doubled but stayed constant since Independence.

NOTA: Total Throughput excluding liquid fuel products from 1984/85 to 1993/94: The
              liquid fuel products can be roughly estimated with at least 1/3 of the total throughput

3.2.3 CONTAINER TRAFFIC

Table 14 pictures the structures and organisations of the cargo handling in the Commercial Port of Walvis Bay. These organisations and their responsibilities have to be seen as basic competencies. For instance, the reception, the handling and transshipment of felspar is performed by NamPort, although normally bulk cargo is handled by private enterprise, except for the provision of infrastructure regarding the storing and the cranage for the loading which all fall under the responsibility of NamPort.