Cruise liner ‘shunted’ as cargo vessels get priority

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY at the Port of Cape Town created a major logistical challenge last week with the arrival of the luxury P&O liner, Oriana. At 69 153 tons and 260 metres in length, the vessel is far too large for berthing at the trendy Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, home to smaller cruise ships; hence a request by King & Sons, Oriana’s local agency, for berthing at E or F-berth. The request could however not be acceded to by port authorities due to construction activity, including a Transnet Port Terminals’ cold store at E-berth, and it was therefore allocated to the more distant Eastern Mole in Duncan Dock, which was not well received by cruise line operator, Carnival Group UK. Philip Naylor, the group’s general manager of fleet, marine and shore operations, made it clear in an e-mail to various respondents that the company did not consider the Eastern Mole allocation. suitable for high-paying, highspending cruise-goers. He believed the berthing arrangements would anger Oriana’s passengers and paint Cape Town in an unfortunate light. His contention was that the port authority had little interest in cruise ships because they provided it with less revenue than cargo ships. Port manager, Sanjay Govan, said the port of Cape Town had to “strike a fine balance” in servicing world-class cruise liners and commercial vessels, which are often dependent on very competitive contractual arrangements within the various logistics chains. Suggesting the Eastern Mole was more secure, in close proximity to “the buzzing leisure side of the port” and that “it does not get any better then this”, Govan told Naylor the berth might not be available in future. The port will nevertheless continue to provide cruise liners calling on the port “with the best possible options.”