The Port of Cape Town is still battling to improve vessel berthing delays as strong winds continue to sweep the Mother City during the peak of the deciduous fruit export season.
Transnet National Ports Authority, Port of Cape Town manager, Rajesh Dana, said the city’s windy season had hampered port operations over the past two weeks.
“The Port has been experiencing adverse weather, with winds consistently blowing in excess of 85kph, resulting in total lost time of 94 hours over the past two weeks. This has impacted on vessel turnaround time, resulting in vessels being delayed at berth and follow-up vessels waiting for prolonged periods at anchorage,” Dana said.
He said that on Tuesday, March 7 the port had 11 container vessels waiting at anchorage.
“The terminals have recovery plans in place to alleviate the backlog and speed up productivity as the weather conditions continue to improve. The increased number of vessels calling the Port of Cape Town during the peak deciduous export season has necessitated the constant review of berth utilisation to ensure that all Port infrastructure (including berths) is optimally utilised, and that vessel and cargo operations are efficient.”
He said the port had established communication platforms with stakeholders and continued to provide daily and weekly updates on port operations to ensure the continuous flow of information to the integrated Maritime Transport Logistics Chain.
According to the latest SA Association of Freight Forwarders’ (SAAFF) Cargo Movement Update the most notable operational delays at the port last week stemmed from the container terminal being windbound for the whole of Monday. However, SAAFF said, in the terminal's defence, that there had been a total of more than 230 hours of wind stoppage for the month of February, which was an all-time record.
