A NEW form of maritime crime, thefts and holdups aboard berthed vessels, and in particular from cabins aboard the vessels, has hit South African ports.
Durban and Cape Town, the country's two major harbours, have suffered mainly in this respect, with Durban authorities pointing out that their close proximity to the city centre, where crime is rife, appears to have spilt over into the harbour.
Hold-ups of shipping personnel in harbour areas has also been reported.
Cape Town's Port Captain John Woodend has taken the step of issuing a directive to visiting captains of vessels to keep their cabin doors locked at all times.
It just isn't done that a captain sleeps with his door locked. It's maritime practice to leave it unlocked, but I'm afraid times have changed and this is something we have to observe, says Woodend, himself a man with years at sea behind him.
We've had two major thefts aboard vessels in the harbour, one at F berth and the other in the drydock. In both cases the captain has been asleep in his cabin when it has been raided and the safe attacked.
This may well be the work of a local gang committing these offences, but we have to take steps against whoever is responsible. While Durban's senior port officials were not available at the time of going to press, and To page 16 From page 1 were engaged in major meetings on other matters, a member of the port's security staff confirmed that this type of activity had been reported in the harbour.
Under maritime law the captain is responsible for the protection of his vessel at all times, said the spokesman, but we are fully aware of these things going on.
We have the added problem here of the harbour being right on the city itself. It is easily accessible to criminals involved in inner city crime and it is difficult to control all of it all the time. Security is a problem which is causing serious concern among officials in both harbours.
Its an absolute nightmare, says Woodend referring to the situation in Cape Town.
There are so many people coming in and out every day involved in business transactions, as well as workers. There are up to 2000 of them at times. Another source told FTW that a recent audit report had revealed that the security in the port was not functioning efficiently and, in fact, after performing an access control test it was found that security at the gates was non-existent in Cape Town harbour.
Pilferage from container depots and shipping company warehouses continues at a steady rate, but harbour authorities point out that security in these areas is the concern of the individual companies involved and not of the harbour authorities themselves.
By leonard Neill
