Transnet National Ports Authority has partnered with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to address extreme wind disruption at the Port of Cape Town.
It has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the CSIR-hosted programme ACCESS (The Alliance for Collaboration on Climate and Earth Systems Science) and other research institutions to establish a series of research projects aimed at understanding the impact of extreme wind disruption on operations at the Port of Cape Town.
Wind remains one of the biggest challenges affecting operational efficiency at the port. Over the past few years, the port has experienced an average loss of approximately 1 200 operational hours per year due to severe wind disruption, leaving terminal equipment unsafe to operate and impacting terminal operations. This, in turn, has led to congestion both in the port and outside, resulting in vessels at anchorage for extended periods. Several industries, including the time-sensitive fruit industry, are severely impacted by wind disruptions in the port.
In order to enhance maritime operations, the collaboration aims to establish a series of research projects focused on comprehending the impact of extreme wind disruption on port operations.
Climate specialists at the University of the Witwatersrand are studying the seasonal climate patterns that result in extreme winds to establish trends and whether the wind is intensifying with time, and how the wind patterns in the Cape Peninsula and the port are likely to change because of climate change. Researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Cape Town, in turn, are examining the current and future economic impact of these disruptions on specific value chains in order to estimate the financial losses and assess the required investment into adaptation measures to deal with the problem. The CSIR and the University of Cape Town are focusing on feasible engineering and operational adaptations to address the challenge.
According to advocate Phyllis Difeto, TNPA managing executive for Western Region ports, climate change presents a growing challenge to shipping and ports as it impacts the state of both land and sea operations.
“The extreme wind problem in the Port of Cape Town is a classic example,” said Dr Neville Sweijd, CSIR senior researcher and ACCESS director. “It is not a new problem, but potentially a worsening one, and so it will increasingly have an impact on lives and livelihoods all around the Western Cape, especially for those people involved in the fruit export industry.”
The MoA is the result of a workshop held in June involving a range of stakeholders that outlined the scope of exactly how businesses have been impacted by port disruptions. The MoA will provide access to valuable data sources required for the study. The team will work closely with the TNPA and the port stakeholders over the next two years to find optimal ways of addressing the challenge.
The research consortium's collaboration with the TNPA through this MoA will grant access to vital data sources required for the study. Over the next two years, the team will closely collaborate with the TNPA and port stakeholders to identify optimal strategies for addressing the challenge.
