Gale-force southeaster pounds CT

Ray Smuts
TEETH-GNASHING was not only confined to shippers but to thousands of freshly-arrived upcountry visitors as a gale force south-easter pounded Cape Town at the weekend, disrupting shipping movements in the process.
As FTW’s deadline approached on Monday morning (December 9), the wind speed was peaking at over 80 knots in the container terminal precincts which led to a shut-down of loading and discharging at around 07:00 on Monday.
As to how long vessels could be delayed - the terminal is full with four vessels at quayside - SA Port Operations’ Charlotte Christian said: “You never know with a south-easter but our guys at quayside rely heavily on our third floor wind reader.”
Cape Town’s harbour master Eddie Bremner said marine services was selectively handling some vessels, always with safety uppermost in mind.
The wind had peaked at up to 75 knots between 22:30. on Sunday and 13:30 on Monday and then dropped down to around 60 knots. But come sunrise and an expected maximum of 26C, it was blowing with a vengeance.
Bremner said vessels with high superstructure were most prone to problems particularly when turning, but the huge oil platform ship Glas Dowr and the Japanese oil rig Hakuryu 5, in for repairs and maintenance, were safely secured.
“I do not see many ships in the bay. A south-easter is normally flat, causing no heavy swells, so ships mostly tend to stay at anchor rather than steam around.”