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WINDHOEK, Feb. 9-- Namibia's port in the coastal town of Walvis Bay will become the "most brilliant pearl on the Atlantic Coast of southwest Africa" with the delivery of four ship-to-shore (STS) cranes manufactured by China, the Chinese ambassador to the country said Friday. Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhang Yiming made this remark at a ceremony held at the harbor town, about 400 km from the capital Windhoek. The cranes, manufactured by China's Zhenhua Port Machinery Company, will be deployed at the new container terminal that is expected to be completed by mid-2019. The project, developed by the state-run China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) since 2017, will have a throughput capacity of 750,000twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year. Expected to be completed by mid-2019, the terminal will have two 600-meter-long berths and accommodate container vessels of 8,000 TEUs. Zhang said the arrival of the cranes is not only key to the port's construction, but also indicates that the project is about to be completed soon, making Walvis Bay the most splendid city on the Atlantic Coast of southwest Africa. "It can be said that this is the benchmark project for China-Namibia friendly and pragmatic cooperation, which symbolizes the great attention of our leaders to our relations and the brotherhood between our people," Zhang said. Chief Executive Officer of Namibia Ports Company (Namport) Bisey Uirab said the ship-to-shore cranes are major components of the new container terminal project and their application is regarded as a milestone in the life cycle of the port as it is the very first time that this type of cranes is being deployed. | 
