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EXPANSION Storage space for containers and cargo will be more than doubled at Suva port
SUVA, FIJI ISLANDS
Suva port lost a wharf in the 1953 earthquake—and analysts fear another powerful tremor could have even worse consequences. The Fiji Islands are quake-prone and Suva, its capital and home to 30% of the population, lies on a major fault line.
“It’s happened before and could happen again,” says Waqa Bauleka, General Manager of the Maritime and Ports Authority of Fiji (MPAF). “We need to strengthen Suva port’s capacity to withstand seismic shocks, and we also need to expand Lautoka port, which would be the backup if anything happens to Suva.”
Peter King, ADB Director (Area B), Pacific Operations Division, agrees. “If Suva loses the port, it loses the emergency delivery system,” he says. Imagine a situation where the city is devastated with people trapped under buildings, and they need to bring in bulldozers and heavy lifting equipment, but Suva port is out of action and Lautoka is 4 hours away and landslips might cut the road.
“You have to think of the worst that could happen and how to plan for it. This kind of risk management is part of our new Pacific strategy,” says Mr. King.
Work is starting soon, under a project financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to bring two berths at the northern end of Suva’s King’s Wharf up to international seismic safety standards. This involves constructing a shear wall to bolster the existing floating piles “that would now disappear in a major earthquake,” says Mr. Bauleka.
" Ultimately, the streamlining will be a good thing "
- Herbert Hazelman,
Chief Executive Officer of Ports Terminal Ltd
Besides safeguarding Suva against another major earthquake, ADB’s loan of $16.8 million for the Fiji Ports Development Project, approved in 2002, will rehabilitate and expand infrastructure of Suva and Lautoka, the two primary ports. Importantly, it will also increase their productivity, thereby stimulating trade and economic growth.
The timing of the improvements is propitious as the Fiji Islands are poised to return to a steady 4% annual growth after the coup crises of 1987 and 2000 and the backwash of the Asian financial crisis.
As the main international port, Suva focuses on container traffic while Lautoka deals mainly with bulk cargo.
By increasing the number of berths at Lautoka, the project will also promote regional balance by drawing off some of Suva’s traffic.
The improvements to both infrastructure and productivity are sorely needed.
Suva port, built in 1963, was upgraded to handle container ships with the help of a $7 million loan from ADB in 1979, but it again needs to be repaired and expanded.
Civil works include strengthening the wharf deck to allow fully laden 25-ton forklift trucks on the central and northern berths and mobile cranes on the apron. This will speed up vessel turnaround time. Storage space for containers and cargo will also be more than doubled.
BIG PLANS The rehabilitated Suva wharf deck will allow fully laden 25-ton forklift trucks on the central and northern berths and mobile cranes on the apron
Exports from Suva are at an all-time high, but they average only 22–24 cargo vessels a month, so there is plenty of room for increase.
At Lautoka, on the sunnier, western side of the main island of Viti Levu, the plan is to double the length of the wharf, expanding the number of berths from one to three.
“This means we shall be able to handle more than one vessel at a time. Right now, if a cruise ship and a cargo vessel arrive around the same time, we have to give priority to the passenger ship,” says Emosi Navusolo, Assistant Manager of MPAF in Lautoka.
“It will also enable us to take some of the load off Suva. Two thirds of the containers bound for Lautoka are dropped off in Suva and trucked over to Lautoka. This involves an extra day, not to mention the damage to the roads caused by heavy traffic.”
Moreover, substantial exports of mineral water, currently hauled by road from Rakiraki through Lautoka to Suva, will instead be offloaded at Lautoka.
Nonetheless, “Lautoka wharf’s additional capacity may still be underutilized, and the Government could exploit its tourism potential and do more to attract cruise ships,” says John Cahoon, ADB Senior Project Implementation Specialist, South Pacific Regional Mission.
Work on the wharf expansion is due to start in January 2004 and is expected to take a year.
Lautoka’s storage area will also be greatly expanded, largely through land reclamation, under the project.
PRIVATIZATION Competition will be encouraged in stevedoring, warehousing, management, and piloting services
Exports through Lautoka are also on the rise, particularly of mineral water to the United States, in addition to raw sugar, molasses, wood chips, fertilizer, and timber.
Just as importantly, the project will improve the Fiji Islands’ cargo-handling capacity, which compares poorly with that of other regional ports. Shippers complain that cargo operations, currently controlled by the government-owned Ports Terminal Ltd (PTL), are beset by a lack of competition in stevedoring services, time- wasting practices such as closing the wharf gates for lunch, and aging equipment.
The project will address this by helping privatize and commercialize PTL. “Competition will be introduced by issuing additional stevedoring licenses,” says Mr. Cahoon. “The same will take place with warehousing, management of local wharves, and piloting services.”
Not surprisingly, Herbert Hazelman, Chief Executive Officer of PTL, is concerned about the impact of these reforms on his workforce of 120 stevedores. “It will involve a lot of pain,” he says, but concedes “ultimately, the streamlining will be a good thing.”
Not all stevedores worry about greater competition. In Lautoka, more berths could mean more work for everyone. Osea Buko, a 55-year-old veteran with over 30 years’ of stevedoring, works an average of three 8-hour shifts a week. “I would welcome the extra work if more vessels dock at Lautoka,” he says.
Port activity generally follows the economy; but in this case, analysts hope the quicker turnaround potential at the Fiji Islands’ ports will attract more vessels—and trade.
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