With the welcome rains came some pleasant encounters
UNDERSTANDABLY, Capetonians keep a close watch on the weather, and the weekend proved good for the dams, but also gave mariners an uncomfortable passage along the coast.
When the salvage tug, SA Amandla put to sea last week, she went to the assistance of the disabled Panamax bulker Kiran Africa off Gansbaai while on passage from India to Brazil.
The tug towed her into port and by Saturday afternoon, she was back at sea en route to Santos.
Last week was also marked by prompt, efficient and friendly service that I received from the two gents on duty when I fetched my new harbour entrance permit from the Transnet office.
For many people who need to attend to business at that office, the two men are the face of Transnet, and are exemplary in the cheerful manner in which they brightened my visit.
From there, I headed to A Berth where a smiling, courteous security official at the gate made my day even happier.
Many of my vintage will remember A Berth as the passenger terminal for the northbound UnionCastle mailships until October 1977 when the cargo mailship, Southampton Castle, loaded the last bags of mail to conclude the 120-yearold service.
At A Berth was the MACS multipurpose vessel Blue Master II, inward from Europe, while the Panamanian bulker, Olympia GR, was discharging grain into a train at B Berth, once the country’s premier fruit terminal before the containerisation of most of the fruit exports.
Discharging grain in Cape Town often requires ships to be alongside for two weeks simply to land 30 000 tons of cargo.
As lengthy port stays increase the landed price of cargo, is it not time to introduce mobile suction-discharge equipment in Cape Town, particularly as growing demand for imported grain will bring more ships this way?
Another bright moment for me came last week. An enquiry from an author about the schedule of passenger ships steaming from Cape Town to Port Said sent me to my collection of shipping lines’ brochures where I found a 1939-vintage schedule of the Union-Castle intermediate liners.
Among the ships listed on the schedule were several vessels that were lost during World War II: Llandaff Castle – torpedoed off KwaZulu-Natal coast in May 1942 – was due to leave Mombasa for London via South Africa on July 5, while the two-funnelled Dunbar Castle – mined off Goodwin Sands six months later – was advertised to sail from Cape Town for Britain via Suez on July 6, arriving in London shortly before the outbreak of the war.
Many of the passengers carried by these intermediate vessels were British civil servants either bound for East Africa or returning to Britain after their customary two-year service in the former “colonies”.
At the time, a voyage from Cape Town to Britain via Suez would have cost 110 quid in a first-class double cabin; penurious folks had the option to travel in a four-berth cabin for 47 pounds, although the cutlery in their dining saloon was certainly not Sheffield silver.
During a 46-day voyage between Cape Town and London, the ships called at 12 ports, including a short bunkering stop at Aden on the Gulf of Aden, then a thriving port where dozens of ships queued to refuel.
Sadly, the civil war in Yemen has crippled the country and the bunker trade, and although a few ships seem to call daily, those old busy days have gone, as has the prosperity that was a product of the shipping traffic.
Obscured from the world’s radar by the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong-un, Yemen’s civil war has escalated in recent days, and the Red Sea port of Hodeidah has become the focus of attacks by Saudi and Emirates forces, a response to the key role the port plays in importing food and fuel.
Iranian drone vessels have also been active in the area. Said to be a proxy war with various participants on each side, the terrible situation takes second place to the Syrian conflict in the international conscience.
Yet its potential to disrupt the major shipping route that passes that country’s shore is enormous. Missiles and drone boats have damaged merchant ships and warships, and even a US naval vessel has not been spared attack, although her superior firepower saved the day.
Some fear that Iranian-backed rebels will engage in further maritime attacks as even unsuccessful targeting of Red Sea shipping will hike insurance rates on vessels passing through the area, and could cause some vessels to divert to the Cape route.
Although a by-product of the localised war, such diversions could encourage more attacks focused on Western shipping, a thought that would excite extremist groups.
What happened to the days of those long, leisurely voyages in the intermediate ships?
I shall be chatting to the Ship Society at 7.30pm for 8pm tomorrow on Shipwrecks and Salvage. The society meets in its interesting room opposite the Cruise Terminal in Cape Town harbour.
Visitors are most welcome to attend. (There is a small charge for a cuppa.)