CAPE TOWN: Winds in excess of 60 miles per hour at the Port of Cape Town have led to delays in berthing vessels for the better part of a week.
The abnormally strong winds have been preventing the port from moving vessels for hours at a time and forced the port to suspend operations entirely from Monday until late Tuesday, according to ftwonline.
While the Cape of Good Hope from which Cape Town draws its name is synonymous with strong winds and waves, such winds are not typical during winter. The typical windy season runs in the Southern Hemisphere summer from November to January or February.
In March 2015, the most recent month for which statistics were available, the port’s container volumes were down 5.5 percent year-over-year from 79,915 TEUs to 75,557, according to Transnet National Ports Authority, the authority responsible for South Africa’s ports.
The container terminal at Cape Town is able to accommodate 8,000 TEU ships with its depth of 50.8 feet and is currently expanding its capacity from 900,000 TEUs to 1.4 million.
