'The backlog would be
there even if we had a fleet
of tugs and pilots'
Ray Smuts
HLUBI MZAMO has a ready retort for those critical of insufficient marine services in the Port of Cape Town : size does not necessarily count.
Responding to comments by LauritzenCool's general manager Trevor Law (FTW August 9, 2002) that the service needed to be expanded, Mzamo, marine services operations manager in the port, says: "The backlog would be there even if we had a fleet of tugs and a fleet of pilots.
"The issue really revolves around the service land agreement, the slot and dispatch systems and how we take our bookings, all of which need to be further addressed."
As to whether Cape Town's tug fleet is sufficient, Mzamo comments: "At the moment we are coping."
The port operates four tugs each with a bollard pull of 41 tonnes, a
smaller tug with an 11-ton
bollard pull, and three launches to assist in the the running of lines and the movements of small vessels. (Source: Ports of Southern Africa 2002)
The 24-hour schedule to which the tugs adhere involves three on during the day and two at night which leaves the fourth as a relief vessel.
"We have not had to field four tugs until and subsequent to the recent arrival of the Glas Dowr (a huge floating oil storage vessel) and with an oil rig and a tanker sitting in the same basin it's a dangerous situation."
As to how the port will cope in the event of more of the large oil exploration vessels heading south for refits and the like, Mzamo says it's not merely a question of a number of tugs but more powerful vessels, and while tugs are being built that were originally earmarked for Cape Town, that is not to say it will materialise.
"One has to look at the utilisation of tugs right round the coastline and on top of that we have Coega coming up."
