Durban Harbour tunnel - first use of a slurry tunnel boring machine in South Africa

J.A. Hindmarch^I; A.L. Griffiths^II; A.K. Officer^II; G. Wittneben^III

^IMott MacDonald, UK
^IIGoba (Pty) Ltd, South Africa
^IIIHochtief-Concor JV, Germany-South Africa

SYNOPSIS

Durban Harbour in South Africa is one of the continent's busiest ports. However, the harbour entrance is currently too small for the new generation of container ships. Therefore it is to be deepened and widened by the National Ports Authority in the near future. An existing immersed tube tunnel carrying major sewer, water and other utilities under the harbour first needs to be removed and replaced by a deeper 4.4 m ID services tunnel. Construction of the deeper tunnel saw the first use of a slurry machine in South Africa and was required to negotiate grades up to 20%.

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