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.”