HEAVY RAIN storms across KwaZulu Natal at the beginning of February caused severe disruption to both of the province's ports, and Richards Bay was forced to close for a 24-hour period as a result of the weather (on Friday 5 February).
According to a Portnet spokesperson ship movements at the port had to be curtailed because of bad visibility and an extremely heavy sea. The ship's pilot service helicopter was also unable to fly.
Although heavy rains in the area brought rivers down in flood only minor washaways and damage at the port were reported.
There were no delays to Durban shipping, but Richards Bay was brought to a halt during the morning when visibility was down to 'nil'. Shipping lanes were reopened at 15:00 that afternoon and by the following morning schedules had been resumed.
Durban hit hard
The same storm resulted in a massive clean-up operation for Portnet pollution control personnel in Durban, involving one of the port's most unusual harbour craft, Portnet's pollution vessel Udonti, which has had her work cut out trying to clean up the mess. 300 mm of rain fell in a matter of a few hours and brought down an enormous volume of pollution from two river canals that empty into the bay. The pollution consisted of whole trees, branches, sugar cane, litter and rubbish. In addition a large volume of plastic and domestic rubbish found its way into the bay through the city's many storm water outlets.
A 60 metre section of the Umbilo River canal wall collapsed from the water pressure, flooding out adjacent buildings in the Bayhead railway marshalling yard area up to a height of a metre and more and leaving the Petronet oil pipeline suspended in mid air. Fortunately the pipeline containing thousands of litres of oil held and did not rupture, otherwise the bay might have had more than just a rubbish problem! During the disastrous 1987 Cyclone Demoina floods, the canals successfully withheld the force of water but a Protekon spokesperson told FTW that on this latest occasion there was simply too much water too quickly.
By the weekend the water in most nooks and crannies in the port were littered with flotsam and jetsam and several harbour craft including tugs and launches were reporting problems as weeds fouled their propellers.
The unusual craft dealing with this problem is a Water Witch class of pollution control harbour vessels purchased by Portnet last year for R1.4 million. Udonti comes equipped with a hydraulically operated mesh scoop loader up front, giving her the appearance of a small front end loader or bulldozer, which can scoop anything up to 750 kg of rubbish at a time.
This is then deposited into a small barge containing a standard skip which can be towed behind. Alternately Udonti will make use of skips strategically placed around the harbour.
With her shallow draught of less than one metre Udonti can reach into most corners in the bay. On most normal days the wind drives the rubbish into several convenient corners, making it easy for the vessel to deal with the problem
It is costs Portnet about R2.5 million each year to keep Durban harbour clean, a cost they have to bear despite the fact that most rubbish entering the bay comes from inland sources, mainly from city drains
that empty into the bay. Very little litter originates from ships or wharfside activity.
It is reported that Portnet is considering buying a second Water Witch for the Port of Cape Town.
By Terry Hutson
