A significant increase in windrelated
delays at the Port
of Cape Town has forced
shipping lines to take difficult
– and often costly – decisions,
but there’s often no alternative
to bypassing the port in order to
maintain schedule integrity.
“Transhipping Cape Town
cargo at Ngqura for return to
Cape Town has cost implications
for a carrier,” says Brad Gower,
marketing and commercial director
for MSC in the Cape region. “We
don’t take this decision lightly
because we know it can have an
impact on our clients’ logistics
chains – but at times we are left
with no alternative on some of our
southbound voyages.”
According to Gower, there have
been more wind delays in October
through to February than the
previous season. “For example, in
October 2012 we lost 233 hours’
production due to wind versus 54
hours in October 2011. In January
this year we lost 272 hours versus
142 hours in 2012. The wind
delays are exacerbated with rubbertyre
gantries (RTGs) shutting down
at lower wind speeds than the quay
gantries. We would like to see the
RTGs working at the same wind
speeds as the gantry cranes.”
Port authorities shut down the
quay gantries at winds of around
80km per hour, but the RTGs in
the stack are brought to a halt even
sooner at winds of 70km per hour.
“At the height of the wind delays
we had to employ an additional
feeder to move cargo between
Ngqura and Cape Town which was
an extremely costly exercise, but
if the port is wind-bound there is
nothing much else we can do. The
perishable industry is particularly
sensitive to delays, and we are
obliged to call Cape Town on our
northbound voyages. The speeding
up of vessels to make up lost time
is also a costly exercise.”
Gower believes that finding a
longer-term solution to the wind
problem is crucial, although wind
is only part of the equation.
“When the Port of Cape Town
works, it works well, but when it
closes down the recovery time is
not at its optimum. The port has
six gantries but cannot always
maximise this equipment as it
does not have sufficient labour to
deploy in order to operate all six
gantries at all times. When we are
recovering from wind delays it’s
important for the port to offer a full
recovery programme to its clients
by utilising its equipment at its
optimum. A lack of stack capacity
is another concern.”
CAPTION
The MSC Lisbon calls at the Port of Cape Town.
