Cape Town’s notorious southeaster prevented the 93 000-tonne MSC Musica cruise ship from docking on Thursday. This magnificent vessel sailed past the cruise terminal at the V&A Waterfront, before proceeding to make a U-turn and returning to the open seas.
“The MSC Musica will not be able to enter the port due to strong winds,” a City of Cape Town official said on Thursday. The grand vessel was expected to be able to dock from 1pm yesterday. “Weather indications at this stage indicates that this could be around 1pm. We expect that the disembarking traffic between 2pm and 4.30pm. This will affect our afternoon peak traffic.”
It was later announced that the ship would attempt to enter the port at 5am on Friday morning if the wind would permit it. “This could also change depending on the wind,” the City said.
“The latest on the MSC Musica is that Port Control will try and bring the cruise ship in to port now. But could take some time before they dock. The captain of the MSC has refused to lift anchor until the wind drops they will review at 10am.”
The winds, however, proved to be too strong, and the cruise ship will now only be docked at 2am on Saturday morning.
Picture: Twitter