Sunrise Energy on Wednesday announced that bad weather had led to the delay of the delivery of petroleum gas in its terminal in Saldanha Bay port.
The company said, due to the delays, the terminal expected to deplete supplies of LPG on Wednesday.
“Sunrise Energy regrets to inform the public that rough, stormy seas and adverse weather will delay deliveries of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) at its terminal at Saldanha Bay Port. As a result, the terminal expects to deplete supplies or ‘stock out’ of LPG today,” the company said.
According to the company, an extreme front is expected to make landfall on Thursday morning.
"High sea swells ahead of the cold front have caused the Port Authority to suspend entry to the port. As a consequence of the Port Authority’s decision, ships carrying LPG destined for delivery to the Sunrise Energy facility has been unable to berth at our Marine Offloading Facility using our Multi-Buoy Mooring (MBM) point this week," it said.
The company said one of the LPG supply ships was delayed in loading its cargo in Chile before departing for Saldanha Bay because of the stormy weather.
“This delay meant that it was unable to discharge its LPG cargo before the rough seas arrived on the West Coast, preventing the vessel’s entry to the Saldanha Bay port," said Sunrise Energy.
“Maximum swells of 2.5 to 2.7m have already been reported inside the Port Channel, with 20 knot wind speeds. Weather alerts report that poor weather can be expected for the next 10 days,” it said.
Sunrise Energy said the Port Authority would be monitoring the weather on an hourly basis and would try to berth the ship at the first possible opportunity.
“We are proud that Sunrise Energy’s MBM infrastructure has performed faultlessly throughout this winter. We also have full confidence that the Port Authority will grant permission for LPG supply ships to safely enter the port and berth as soon as reasonably possible and safe to do so,“ the company said.
BUSINESS REPORT ONLINE