The Port of Cape Town is looking into several engineering solutions to address the problem of surging – when long swells in the port see vessels continue to roll, heave and surge alongside the quay while berthed. Cape Town port manager Mpumi Dweba Kwetana, formerly the port manager at the Port of Ngqura which suffers a similar challenge, said several options were being looked at. “The automotive mooring system installed at Ngqura is a good option, but not necessarily the only solution. We invested R150 million in this system in Ngqura but there is still an operational cost that has to be factored in. So we achieved the efficiency but it comes with a cost,” she said. “The mooring system may very well be the solution that we are looking for in Cape Town, but I believe we need to investigate all the possibilities.” She said a study had been launched to assist her office in determining what was the best solution to achieve the efficiency required. “We also need to contend with the wind in this port and it remains an ongoing challenge,” said Kwetana. “In December we lost 466 hours to the wind. It is simply not acceptable. We may not be able to control the wind, but we have to find engineering solutions that allow us to operate and continue to perform in difficult conditions.”
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We may not be able to control the wind, but we have to find engineering solutions that allow us to perform in difficult conditions. – Mpumi Dweba Kwetana
