Transnet Declares Force Majeure Over Power Failure At Cape Town Terminals

Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), Cape Town Container and Cape Town Multi-Purpose Terminal (“Cape Terminals”) has declared a force majeure after experiencing a power failure from 19h30 on 20 December 2021 which it said has severely impacted operations at the Cape Terminals.

According to a statement by TPT Acting Chief Executive Officer, Jabu Mdaki, the power failure is due to an Eskom substation being affected by a fire in the areas surrounding the Cape Terminals.

“Unfortunately, the effects of this unforeseen power failure (“Force Majeure Event”) is beyond the control of TPT. TPT, therefore, has no option but to invoke the provisions of the Force Majeure clauses in terms of the Standard Trading Terms and Conditions, Conditions of Trade as well as TPT’s commercial agreements,” said Mdaki.

“Against this background, kindly take notice that as a result of the Force Majeure event, Transnet is prevented from, or may be delayed in performing any of its contractual obligations under the respective commercial agreements, and as such, shall not be held liable for any delay or failure to perform any of its obligations for the duration of this Force Majeure event. As such any claims arising therefrom will be dealt with as such in terms of the applicable commercial agreements,” Mdaki added.

“It is not clear at this stage how long it will take for the power to be restored, however, TPT will endeavour to communicate the progress in this regard to customers within 48 hours from this Declaration.

“In order to mitigate the impact of the power outage, TPT will attempt to source backup
generation power and will engage customers to assist in this regard.

“Kindly be advised that this constitutes an official notice suspending the provisions of all applicable contracts in the interim,” the statement concluded.

Update: Power restored to all areas! Great relief.
I am very grateful to the @CityofCT engineering and technical teams who have worked nearly 24 hours under extreme pressure to get this done. And ‘thank you’ to residents for your patience.
— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) December 21, 2021

As at TPT reported that power had been restored and they were busy preparing their systems and will resume operation as soon as possible.

Earlier this morning, Wednesday 22 December, the ports were fully functional again. TPT, has not commented on the degree of damage caused by the power failure.

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