An unrelenting series of cold fronts in July has wrought havoc on the maritime industry, disrupting both marine traffic and port operations.
However local yards were largely unaffected, with only minor disruptions reported as staff took the latest workplace challenge in their stride.
While the full weather impact is still being assessed, port stakeholders confirmed significant disruption at the height of the weather chaos in the second week of July. The disruption comes at a time when port operations are under the spotlight due to a lowly ranking in a prominent container operations global survey. “The impact (of the winter weather) on our economy cannot be underestimated as one of our biggest selling factors has been the regularity and reliability of the services of our trading routes and that Cape Town is the last SA port of call,” Exporters Western Cape chairman Terry Gale told the Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Adverse weather resulted in equipment breakdowns, with only six of the port’s nine ship-to-shore cranes and 24 out of 30 rubber-tyred gantries operational during early-July.
“These terminal delays have resulted in vessels bypassing Cape Town to retain their service integrity,” Gale said. “Unfortunately, even when the port is intermittently working, the shipping lines are bypassing us as an excuse, while in fact, vessels are berthing on arrival.”
“Prior to this extreme weather, the terminals were devoid of vessels with the shipping lines claiming the port was congested!!” Gale said.
SABBEX executive head Vanessa Davidson said local yards were able to shrug off the weather drama without too much disruption: “To my knowledge there was no significant impact on boatbuilding, but slightly lower staff turnout for staff impacted by flooding at their homes or by curtailed transport facilities.”