Lack of pilot boats leads to CT delays

With two pilot boats suddenly out of service at the same time, berthing of ships at the Port of Cape Town came to a grinding halt on Monday last week. The MV Petrel broke down at 02:18, with the MV Gannet already in the drydock for a month as it underwent its annual maintenance. Berthings were delayed for the day on Monday, and four ships suffered delays on Tuesday – as the port’s work boat did its best to replace the pilot boats. The short-term solution was for a replacement boat to be sent from Saldanha – with an ETA of 16:00 on the Tuesday. The longer-term cure was for two new pilot boats to join the fleet at Cape Town – the first due at the end of next year, and the second at the end of 2013. What did the lines feel about this sudden glitch in ship berthing and sailing? Not too badly, according to MOL and MSC. But, FTW was told, this was because their ships involved in the hold-up were both small vessels, with a low freeboard and able to embark or disembark a pilot from the small work boat. Speaking to FTW at the time, MOL’s marketing manager, Iain McIntosh, said: “We had a lot of fun when one of our ships, the Jamila, was held up on the Tuesday, and suffered a six-hour delay. “But she was a small vessel, and relatively easy to board, so the problem was really for the larger ships that were involved. But the Saldanha replacement pilot boat arrived on schedule, so the problem should now be resolved.” Rob McEwan of MSC was unperturbed. “Our ship was sailing, and she has a low freeboard, so didn’t really need a pilot boat – and the work boat did the job. If there is no big swell, this is sufficient. But there were one or two of the big ones that had problems.”