‘Cape Doctor’ dispenses bitter medicine

Berthing delays of up to 60 hours experienced RAY SMUTS WHEN South African Port Operations CEO Tau Morwe recently blamed inclement weather for much of Durban container terminal’s woes, he might as well have lumped Cape Town in as well, given that October has been severely harsh on container shipping. So severe in fact that vicious south-easterlies increased delays up to 12-fold, most of it attributable to wind. As roofs creaked under the strain and pigeons sought solace under church eaves, container terminal personnel had their hands full at times, with winds in excess of 85km/h gusting to 100km/h or above on occasion. (Sapo’s six cranes do not work above 80km/h). “If we go back, I think the worst month for wind was November last year, 150 hours in all, but we have experienced 67 hours of wind delays between October 11 and 17 alone so hopefully the November ’06 pattern will be slightly different,” says Sapo planning officer, David Davids. Between October 13 and 15, wind delays exceeded 25.6 hours while the situation looked even worse between October 16 and 17 with delays of more than 29 hours. One of the worst hit was MSC Angola, with wind delays of 60 hours between October 13 and 18 while the MSC Geneva, which finally sailed at midday on Thursday October 19, experienced wind delays of 37 hours. Also facing delays, either pre-empted by wind or certain operational difficulties such as berths still occupied by vessels that should have departed, were the MOL Cullinan (33 hours), the Vega Diamond (about eight hours), Itaqui (31 hours), Safmarine Mbashe (24 hours) and Sam Ratulangi (12 hours). “If one were to include the wind factor it might look bad on our productivity,” says Davids, “but when circumstances allowed we worked 18 to 19 moves per crane per hour.” He remained hopeful that barring any further wind disruption, three vessels, MSC Benedetta, Peter Ricmas and Durban Bridge, would be able to move straight into the terminal without any delay whatsoever over the weekend of October 21-22.