What winds blew in to make port a hive of activity

IT WAS almost like old times in the harbour earlier this week. Trucks carrying loads of bagged cement, steel rods, grain and machinery virtually clogged South Arm Road at times as two bulkers, the MACS multipurpose vessel Silverfjord and the small freighter Greta – inward from Angola – worked various cargoes.

I understand that the bulker at B Berth, Federal Oshima, had arrived from the Canadian port of Sorel on the St Lawrence Seaway.

Around the time the seaway was opened in the late 1950s, I corresponded with a contemporary in Montreal who sent me a wonderful fold-out of the seaway, and a diagrammatic explanation of the operation of the locks of which there are 14. Via this system, oceangoing ships can reach Duluth on the western coast of Lake Superior, deep in North America’s heartland.

Adding more interest to the mix of ships in port was the cruise ship World Odyssey that arrived from Takoradi, Ghana, on Saturday, the pleasant weather enhancing runs ashore for its passengers.

Given the presence of a bunker tanker in the port, it is a concern that Berths F to L were empty – a regular situation these days.

Readers would have seen the yellow-hulled Happy Diamond that was berthed at A Berth and then shifted to the Repair Quay to make way for the bulker Aby Monica.

Laden with project cargo, the Dutch-flagged Happy Diamond has seven cadets and a training officer on board, a vital training opportunity for cadets seeking their mandatory seatime before they can qualify for their officer-of-the-watch certificates.

Carrying wind turbine blades on deck and other turbine parts in her holds, it was en route from Portugal to Australia when it came into port for bunkers and also for deck cargo securing.

I had not appreciated the extent to which wind power is being used in Europe (and I suspect elsewhere) until I saw the vast areas along the north-west European coast and off the British coast that are occupied by wind turbines. Hundreds of turbines, each mounted on a tower that stands on the seabed, turn in the winds from the North Sea, a phenomenon that has created its own vibrant sector within the maritime industry.

The installation of each turbine tower is a complex and sometimes difficult operation that is weatherdependent. Vessels have been modified or specially built to carry the bases of the towers to the site where they are installed, usually using a crane barge. Some of these bases weigh 1 300 tons, within the lifting capacity of many floating cranes used in the industry.

The rest of the tower is brought out, also lifted into position and then the turbine and blades – some measure 80m – have to be fitted atop the tower. Electricity cables need to link into shoreside grids.

Then begins the maintenance programme, again requiring specialised ships, divers and specially trained technicians, an operation that is more demanding than the proverbial painting of the Firth of Forth Bridge, especially as each turbine tower can be exposed to extremely violent seas and gales.

Some of the structures have been landed in South Africa via Saldanha Bay on several occasions as few bridges or other obstructions will impede the route taken by the huge flat-bed, multi-wheeled trucks that carry the components to various wind farm sites, all on land.

During the protracted downturn in the offshore oil and gas sector, umpteen offshore vessels were laid up, but the advent of marine wind farms threw a lifeline to some offshore operators who modified laid-up ships for use in the marine wind farm industry. Perhaps they have work for life.

But, at the end of the day, what is the carbon footprint of the manufacturing, installation and maintenance of all these wind turbines?