I have always loved to visit the KZN coast, especially in the summer time. I will have to confess that the fond memories I hold for this region has a lot to do with the fact that this is my vacation spot of choice. When somebody mentions Durban my mind automatically brings up images of golden beaches, lazy hours in the sun and chilling out at some of the great restaurants. Recent development in the KZN area has been enormous in the last couple of years and Durban can no longer just be regarded as a small sleepy city, home to surfers and beach bums.
A recent trip to our Durban office and many conversations with the Communicate staff offered me a whole new perspective on the region and I realised that during the last couple of years it has become a serious business hub and a force to be reckoned with.
One of the developments that is creating huge excitement for the growth of the region is the development of the King Shaka International Airport complex as a trade and logistics hub called the Dube TradePort. The vision for the TradePort involves the creation of trade, manufacturing, logistical and agricultural zones in and around the airport, with the aim of turning the area into a multi-model production and distribution hub for the entire region.
One of the goals of this project is to bring back to Durban the freight and passenger traffic that has been lost over the last few decades to other airports. Considering that 70 – 100 tons of cargo is trucked each day to Johannesburg to be flown around the world, it sounds, even to a novice like me, logical that there is a huge gap to be filled. The Dube TradePort, although still in many ways in the development stages, is well on its way to realising its goals.
From my own experience I can tell you that the atmosphere of optimism is tangible when you visit the region and I am pretty sure that it will just be a matter of time for this facility to be a roaring success. So watch out Johannesburg, Durban is clearly making huge strides to put itself back on the map in a big way.
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