Introduction
Most of the ports on the north and west coast of Aceh were either badly damaged or were destroyed in the earthquake and tsunami of 26 December 2004 or in the earthquake of 28 March 2005. Ports are an essential facility that must be restored so that material can be imported for the reconstruction of the province and of Nias. It is estimated that over 30 million tonne of material is needed over the next three to four years for the reconstruction; some of the material can be sourced locally and some can be brought in by road, but the vast majority has to be brought into the province and then distributed to the various townships along the coast by sea.
This report summarised the strategy that will be adopted for the reconstruction and development of the commercial ports of Aceh (NAD) and Nias. There are two aspects to this strategy. The first is the strategy to be adopted in the short term -- over the next six to twelve months, before much major reconstruction work can be done to the ports, and when large quantities of materials have to be shipped in and distributed. In the long term, the strategy aims at rebuilding the ports in such a way that they can have a major influence on the long term economic development of the province.
The report first summarises the existing situation at the main ports of Aceh and Nias. It then discusses what should be done to address the short term strategic needs at various ports. It is necessary now to begin to plan and design for the long term strategic development of the ports and these are discussed.
There are a number of priority actions that should be undertaken now to ensure that the ports fulfil their short and long term roles in the reconstruction and future economic development of Aceh. These are summarised.
The Present Situation
Port sizes
Figure 1 is a graph showing the depth of water required to manoeuvre ships of various sizes and berth them at a wharf. The graph shows the draft of the ships and also the extra depth called the Under Keel Clearance that is needed so that the ship has steerage and which also provides some factor of safety against the ship grounding.
Figure 1 Ship Clearance Requirements
In the context of Aceh, a deepwater port is defined here as a port that can take at least a 10,000 DWT vessel. The depth in the port and in the approach channel has to be equal to or greater than 10 m at lowest tide. A shallow water commercial port is defined here as a port that has a guaranteed minimum depth at lowest tide of 5 metres. Such a port can accommodate a ship of approximately 750 DWT (depending somewhat on the configuration of the ship).
Obviously fishing ports require less depth for most boats and a reasonable proportion of the present fishing fleet, and many of the new boats being built at present, can be dragged up onto beaches.
Figure 2 The ports under consideration
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