Port management in Cape Town would like freight concerns to believe that Table Bay has been heavily lashed by fierce wind - worse than what is usually the case when the Cape Doctor sweeps the streets of the Mother City.
But data gathered from wind-related hours lost at the port over the last three years confirms that the Cape of Storms is as windy as it has ever been.
In February 2019, more than 239 hours were lost due to the wind delays, compared to last month’s 169.07 hours.
Yet berthing delays at the port and resulting lines of vessels waiting at anchorage have once again prompted private sector interests to ask whether Cape Town’s port authorities are up to the task.
And although we’re only barely halfway through March, 56 hours have been lost so far because of wind, compared to 169.07 hours for the same month year-on-year (y-o-y) as South Africa teetered on the brink of a pandemic.
Covid-19, of course, completely changed South Africa’s labour complexion, complicating the ability with which port authorities are able to rise to the occasion of extraordinary events.
In February 2020, for example, 161.47 hours were lost compared to the 168 lost for the same month y-o-y.
And although last February was slightly worse, just over six hours is not enough to justify an argument that Cape Town is unusually windy.
Heavy winds at the Cape of Storms, way back when referred to as Cabo das Tormentas by Portuguese seafarers, and Kaap van Stormen by subsequent Dutch counterparts, have probably howled for time immemorial.
What hasn’t troubled the city for that long – not by a long shot – are the challenges that a pandemic dumped at the feet of Table Mountain.
At least that seems to be a valid interpretation of the Cape’s wind data in conjunction with the coronavirus.
Looking at the figures closely, the windbound port’s eternal struggle with mother nature has clearly been compounded by Covid-19.
