Delays continue in the Port of Cape Town

Ray Smuts
THE P&O Nedlloyd-operated City of Cape Town is definitely not having a speedy welcome time in the city after which it is named.
The week before last she lay off Mouille Point for 24 hours before gaining access to the container terminal, although this was due to fog.
Last week was the same old story, but fog was not a factor this time as she lay once again for hours and hours in the vicinity where the SA Seafarer was wrecked in June 1966.
The vessel arrived in Table Bay at 0900H on May 1 and her estimated berthing at the time of this writing was only to be 0200H on May 4.
The P&O Nedlloyd Luanda arrived on May 2 and was only expected to berth on May 5, the P&O Nedlloyd Chusan due on May 5 was likely to berth on May 6, but this was expected to change because of a delay in Port Elizabeth.
Other delays last week were:
n P&O Nedlloyd Surat - due May 5, due to berth May 7
n DAL Kalahari - due May 5, due to berth May 7
n MOL Queme - due May 6,
likely to berth May 8
All of which goes to debunk a recent daily newspaper report that Cape Town container terminal delays are down to five hours.
Exasperating times indeed for the lines as Peter Odendaal, operations manager for P&O Nedlloyd, told FTW: ÒIt is fair to say there has been no improvement and that customer service rendered by the port authorities remains poor.Ó
FTW was unable to obtain comment from either NPA or Sapo officials.