Equipment breakdowns and the elements wreak havoc TERRY HUTSON There WAS an eventful week at the port of Durban earlier this month, with closures and heavy seas framed by lightning strikes. First up were rough seas, closing the port to all incoming ships on Tuesday, November 9, by which stage there were 19 ships lined up outside port. By Wednesday, with the port having been restricted to outgoing vessels for 24 hours, the accumulation of ships waiting in the outer anchorage had increased to 25, of which 13 were container vessels, producing the unusual sight of empty berths at the container terminal. Several ships outside cut and ran for other ports, leaving cargo behind. By Thursday it was marginally better with 20 ships waiting but at least they were starting to enter port as others arrived. The reason for the ‘no entry’ sign was the large swell running across the bar outside the port, averaging 5m and peaking at 8m according to some reports. Deep ships faced the risk of touching bottom while riding these swells as they approached the port entrance. Saturday brought other frustrations. The port helicopter is under maintenance repair, and the pilot boat was performing pilot duty, backed up where necessary by the workboat Royal Tern. On the Friday night both broke down and for nearly 12 hours the port was again closed because no pilot boat was available. Eventually at about 10:00 on Saturday the port agreed to hire and use a private launch but shortly afterwards Tsitsikama returned to duty, having been repaired. By now eight vessels were waiting to sail, while outside their replacements were ready to enter port. Once again it was a game of catch-up with a succession of ships sailing all Saturday afternoon before incomings were allowed. Further delays! If that wasn’t enough, a short violent storm struck the city on the Sunday night with the control tower dominating the Durban skyline being hit by a lightning bolt. This put it out of action for a short while until the reserve generators were able to kick in. Altogether a week Durban would rather forget.
