Delight for ship spotters... but dockside blues
WHILE scores of ships continue to pass the Cape daily, the harbour remains rather quiet. Yet, several interesting vessels have caught the eye. Readers e-mailed enquiries about a vessel anchored off Sea Point during the past few days.
She is the Cypriot heavylift vessel Bokalift 1, en route from China to West Africa. Another heavylift ship, Zhen Hwa 13, has been repairing at the Landing Wall for the past fortnight.
On deck is her cargo of two yellow container gantries that are very conspicuous against the dockland skyline. Nearby, the bulker Avocet has been here for 10 days while refitting.
The Bahaman-registered bulker Biograd finished discharging grain from Bunbury, Australia, and, over the weekend, Cayman Islandsflagged Equinox Melida arrived with a cargo of Argentine grain. (To think that South Africa was once a grain exporter!)
Ship spotters have enjoyed visits by several passenger ships.
Having sailed from Cape Town last week, Fred Olsen’s Boudicca is along the coast, returning later this month to make another coastal passage before heading for Spain via Walvis Bay and the Atlantic islands.
Fresh from an extensive refit, Crystal Symphony was also here and also headed for the coast. Among her calls was Richards Bay for her passengers to view wildlife in the nearby game reserves. She is presently en route to Australia via Mauritius.
Bound for the coast, Silver Spirit berthed at A Berth and Europa at the passenger terminal on Monday.
MSC Sinfonia embarked over 2 000 passengers for voyages to Walvis Bay and into the blue before sailing for Durban. She is a magnificent vessel and a voyage aboard is certainly a most memorable experience.
When taking friends to join MSC Sinfonia last week and collecting them on their return from Walvis Bay over the weekend, I entered the new passenger terminal.
Once it is open to the public, diners will be able to enjoy the fare at the popular Panama Jacks restaurant that will have a view of the harbour.
From the outside deck, folks can watch ships working cargo at the adjacent berths, and it will be an agreeable vantage point from which to view arriving and departing passenger ships.
Some time ago, this column suggested that the interior be decorated with appropriate maritime memorabilia, large photographs and rotating electronic displays of bygone days of Cape Town’s dockland. I await with interest to see whether my dream will be realised.
However, there is a downside to some passenger activities at E Berth. My friends joined the queue at 10.15am but boarded MSC Sinfonia just before 1pm.
A similar scenario awaited those joining the ship for the next cruise when 2 000 passengers queued to embark while a similar number were disembarking.
For fare-paying passengers – including elderly folks and children – to have to queue in the hot sun for hours prior to boarding is unacceptable. (What if it had been raining?)
Perhaps someone can correct me, but I saw no toilets for those in the queue, and I did not see passengers being offered refreshments, despite the heat.
On the ship’s return from Walvis Bay, her gangways were rigged before 8am, but my friends could only disembark four hours later! In the meantime, traffic chaos prevailed as hundreds of folks like me arrived to collect disembarking passengers, while others brought joining passengers.
And a large articulated truck from a well-known food chain had to negotiate the assembled vehicles and people!
The terminal and its surrounds are not designed to handle so many people disembarking and joining on the same day. Passengers deserve better than this in Cape Town. Would airline passengers tolerate such queues?