Ships delayed up to 148 hours in CT

RAY SMUTS
THE CAPE Peninsula once again received a pounding at the weekend from the dreaded south easter, forcing container terminal gangs to stop work for more than 56 hours. Lengthy berthing delays to many vessels are due to a combination of wind which blew in excess of 90km/h and weekend vessel bunching, which is not an unusual phenomenon. South African Port Operations’ planning officer David Davids said it would take at least a week (till February 11) to normalise the situation. Davids told FTW MSC Zurich, which arrived at anchorage on January 30 and was due to sail on Monday, would have been delayed for a total of 148 hours, Safmarine Tugela for 108 hours, the Northern Felicity for 115 hours and the MOL Columbus for 86 hours. The unrelenting wind forced gangs to stop work last Friday afternoon until early Monday morning, a total of 56.42 hours. Wind stoppages for December 2004 stand at 120 hours, 158 hours for January and were already at 82 hours for the first six days of February. A small armada of container ships awaited berths at sunrise on Monday (February 6), all of which will be delayed considerably. Last word from Davids is: “We are quite congested, among the worst in a while.”