Ngqura’s historic moment arrives

It was history in the making on Sunday when the 300 metre long, 13 metre deep MSC Catania sailed into the port of Ngqura container terminal to become its first commercial vessel. The docking of the vessel – while a major milestone for the port and the country – was used as a real live test-run for vessel operators to hone their skills in this first commercial container offloading at the Port of Ngqura. Part of MSC’s Europe service, the vessel was en route from Durban where adverse weather conditions during the week had delayed its expected arrival. Two gangs of operators – with a third on standby – successfully put months of training to the test in handling and offloading the vessel using the port’s stateof- the-art Liebherr shipto- shore cranes. The vessel sailed to Cape Town and onward to Europe after her Ngqura call.