Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with a programme hosted by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) – the Alliance for Collaboration on Climate and Earth Systems Science (ACCESS) – as well as other research institutions, for a series of research projects aimed at understanding the impact of extreme wind disruption to operations at the Port of Cape Town (PoCT). 

In the last few years the port has, on average, lost 1 200 hours a year owing to extreme wind disruption. 

Extreme wind gusts can result in equipment becoming unsafe to operate, thereby impacting operations. 

This sometimes leads to congestion inside and outside the port, resulting in vessels waiting at anchorage for extended periods. 

This means that several industries, including the time-sensitive fruit industry, are severely impacted by wind disruptions in the port. 

The two-year research project is being conducted by experts in various institutions.

Climate specialists at the University of the Witwatersrand are studying the seasonal climate patterns that result in these extreme winds, in order to establish whether there are trends and whether the wind is indeed intensifying with time, as well as how the wind patterns in the Cape Peninsula and the port are likely to change as a result of climate change. 

Researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Cape Town (UCT) are examining the current and future economic impact of these disruptions on specific value chains to estimate the financial losses, and to assess the required investment into adaptation measures to deal with the problem. 

The CSIR and UCT are focusing on feasible engineering and operational adaptations to address the challenge.

TNPA Western Region ports managing executive advocate Phyllis Difeto, who signed the MoA, says the TNPA appreciates the increasing risk of environmental challenges to port operations.

Also, unless these challenges are understood and managed, they are bound to become a burden to the smooth management of the ports, which are vital to the functioning of the country’s economy. 

“Climate change presents a growing challenge to shipping and ports, in that it impacts the state of both land and sea operations,” says Difeto.

CSIR senior researcher and ACCESS director Dr Neville Sweijd says extreme weather is a manifestation of climate change, and that it is projected to intensify as global warming increases.

“The extreme wind problem in the PoCT is a classic example. It is not a new problem, but potentially a worsening one. 

“It will increasingly have an impact on lives and livelihoods all around the Western Cape, especially for those people who are involved in the fruit export industry.”

Sweijd says the research project seeks to produce solutions that can be used to manage extreme wind impacts. 

“We cannot turn the wind off, but we can learn to better work with it.”