Fierce south-easter delays Ngqura gets thumbs-up ships for 200 hours

Containerships lined up off the port of Cape Town at week’s end – much like airliners awaiting their turn to take off – incurring massive delays after a fierce south-easter lambasted the Mother City for more than 16 hours from midafternoon on January 28. Delays of more than 200 hours have to be the worst experienced by Cape Town Container Terminal for some time, with vessel bunching stemming from the wind stoppage. Aside from the wind, one wonders whether the new Navis system was continuously operational for boxes moving into or from the terminal. The Dal Kalahari, a January 28 arrival, was finally expected to berth at 12.00 on January 31, for a delay of 70.33 hours. However, come sunrise on Monday (February 1) and the grey-hulled vessel had not budged from her anchorage off the Sea Point promenade. By far the worst affected was Nele Maersk, delay 284.50 hours. Viking Eagle awaited transhipment cargo, hence her expected delay of 215.25 hours. Other delays were to Maersk Durham (96 hours), MSC Sheila (117 hours), San Alessio (78 hours) and Bosun (51.50 hours).