PETER GIDDY -- TOUR OF THE PORT ELIZABETH HARBOUR MAY 2017 WITH COLLEGIATE JNR

TOUR OF THE PORT ELIZABETH HARBOUR WITH COLLEGIATE GRADE FOUR, MOMS AND TWO TRANSNET GUIDES (Chanel and Busi)

Thursday after the morning run Maria tells me that her daughter has an outing.   Harbour Visit. So I ask if I may come along.  Meet at Collegiate Jnr at 8am.  I drive with Catherine vd Walt.  We meet at the harbour where we are greeted by Chanel and Busi.  They take us to the West side of the Container Berth.  We are fortunate to watch a container ship as it is guided out of the harbour by one o fhte port Tugs. 
Unfortunately Maria's child (Lucia) bangs her hand in the car door and Maria takes her to hospital to have it checked. We later learn that there are no bones broken but she will need strapping and physiotherapy.

Before we had even started our tour of the harbour, Lucia Benito had her hand slammed in the car door and had to have it strapped. Lucia and her mother Maria Benito are in Port Elizabeth for just one year as her father, Xavier, is on contract with Volkswagen.  Lucia's family is from Spain.  She tells her mother that she simply loves her school. I have the privilege to have met Maria and her family through our running group.  Maria has since joined me on a number of local running events. She has run her first ever 10k and 15k races in Port Elizabeth and we hope to compete in her first 21k (Half Marathon) soon.
 Arriving on  the West Side of the Container berth.  It was here that Lucia banged her hand in the car door.  And Maria took her off to Hospital.

 The control tower from the end of the Pier.

 Port Control Tower.

 On the 11th Floor of the Control Tower where the bank of Screens and telephones are used to communicate with the ships both in the harbour and in the bay.

 

 Cathy Gouws is the Grade 4 teacher at Collegiate.  It is due to Cathy's innovative thought that we have this opportunity to visit the PE Harbour.

 

Chanel explains where we are and the workings of the Harbour.  The depth or Draught is 14.5meters and ships of 12.5m maximum are allowed into the harbour.  It is only at high tides as this can make a big impact on the draught.
Ships in the bay are either waiting for instructions to come into harbour or may be refuelling or maybe waiting for weather conditions or it could be that they merely have time before the next port call and wait in the bay rather than out to sea.

 On the outside deck att the top of the Control Tower.  Catherine is second from the left. Fourth from the left is Lisa who is a MPRG runner.  On the far left is Chanel and on the right is Busi. I am not able to remember the names of the other Moms. Missing is Maria who had to take Lucia to Hospital.

 Looking across the Container Berth

 Here we see the Tanker on the East Side Pier.  This tanker is loading oil and later we see the tanker leaving and after that a Gas Tanker will be docking.

 Across to the city and the container berth.

The top of the control Tower. 
Red =  Port (easy to remember as the drink is Red) and Left; 
Green = Starboard which is Right.
Catherine's father was in the NSRI and taught her how to remember the difference -- Left has fewer letters so Red and Port have fewer letters.
PE Harbour and Port of Ngura Interesting facts:

• The PE Harbour is 14.5 meters deep and ships of between 11m (Passenger) and 12.5 (Goods) are allowed to enter this harbour
• The Port of Ngqura (Coega) is 18m deep and ships of up to 16m draught may enter this port.
• PE Harbour has 12 births and Ngqura has 4 container berths and 2 general cargo berths.
• PE Harbour was opened in 1931 while Ngqura berthed its first commercial ship in October 2009.
• The Port of Ngqura has been designed to serve as a bulk port to handle commodities such as manganese, chemicals, oil and refined petroleum products.  Busi explained that we should anticipate the move of these products from PE Harbour to Ngqura in 2021 when the "Waterfront Development" could begin. The existing Oil and Ore berths are planned for future Vehicle loading.
• Manganese ore is brought by rail from Hotazel in the Northern Cape.
• PE Harbour has parking for 5000 vehicles destined for import and export.
• The UK and EU; USA; Australia and Africa are the main destination ports for vehicles exported from South Africa. Exports of Vehicles total in excess of 200 000 per year.  However I was not able to establish accurate figures for the PE Harbour.  I believe that VW exports in excess of 5 000 vehicles a month and that the PE Harbour handles around 3000 vehicles a week.
• The breakwaters (1.3km and 2.7km long) of the Port Of Ngqura was built using 26 000; two storey high, 30 ton Dolosse 
• Dolosse work by dissipating to the sides, rather than blocking, the energy of waves
• PE Harbour handles large volumes of containerised components and raw materials for the Motor Assembly industry. 
• The bulk of exports comprise agricultural products; Timber; Wool; Textiles and Hides in containers. Also Citrus and Deciduous fruit. Manganese ore; Motor vehicle related products and Steel are also exported.
• The first Jetty of the PE Harbour was constructed in 1837.  The Charl Malan quay (now used for Cars and Containers) was built in 1933.
• In July 2016 the first offshore bunkering service (Transfer of fuel from ship to ship rather than having the vessels enter the harbour) in South African waters got underway in Algoa Bay with Aegean Marine Petroleum Network deploying their bunkering vessel MT LEFKAS to Port Elizabeth, which now flies the South African flag. The ship-to-ship transfers take place in Algoa Bay where relatively deepwater bunkering is possible.   
• Remains of the Kapodistrias -- A Greek Bulk Carrier which was wrecked at Cape Recife in 1985; And the Patti a cargo vessel which sank in dense fog in 1976, can be seen at low tide from Cape Recife lighthouse.
• The Oceanos -- A cruise ship was wrecked off the Transkei coast sunk in 1991
• One of the most famous ship to sink off the Port Elizabeth coast is the Sacramento which sank in 1647.  This Portugese Man 'o War was carrying a cargo of Brass Canon from the east to Lisbon.  Many of the canon were salvaged in 1977.  72 of the survivors began a 6 month walk to Mocambique.  They met up with survivors from other wrecks. Some of the survivors began a new life on route and 9 from the Sacramento made it to Mocambique. The Sacramento trail at Schoenmakers Kop has a cannon and a memorial plaque with the story of the Sacramento.

Our first exciting activity was to either walk the stairs or take the lift up the Port Control Tower.  The control room is on the 11th floor where there is a bank of computer screens and the details of weather, waves and tides on display. The screens depict the bay and the waiting ships. The control tower is manned 24/7.  All incoming and outgoing ship movements are reported and authorised from here. Docking is allocated from the control room and details of the ships and their cargo.  After a session of questions and answers we climbed out onto the open lookout area of the top of the tower.  From here we have a clear view of the entrance to the Harbour, the tanker  and Ore Loading ship on the East side of the Harbour.

As we leave the Charl Malan Quay, we see the loading of Oysters harvested from the Oyster Farm which is on the West side of the Container Quay.

We then move to the container side where we see cargo being loaded and off loaded.  We drive to the main section of the harbour where the Tug Boats berth.  Here we see two tug boats (Qunu and another - named after Mandela's home).  And our last stop is the small craft harbour where we see the Yacht Club, NSRI, Fishing boats; Tankers (loading and off loading fuel and gas) and the ore berth where Ore; Manganese and Coal are loaded.

A great outing with so much information and learning for children and parents alike.

Peter Giddy is a qualified guide in the Port Elizabeth; Garden Route and Cape Town areas.  To experience this and other exiting outings you are able to contact him
peter.giddy@gmail.com