A salvage team is preparing to start pumping 500 tons of fuel from the Panama-flagged ship, which ran aground on South Africa’s west coast last week. The team is taking advantage of a temporary break in the stormy weather that has battered Cape Town’s coast. The ship, which began listing and taking on water, was abandoned by its 18-member Filipino crew on July 8 before drifting towards Doring Bay, approximately 300 km north of Cape Town. The crew was rescued by passing vessels responding to an emergency alert.
Weather Constraints
Sobantu Tilayi, the chief operations officer at the South African Maritime Safety Authority, expressed the urgency of the situation, stating, “This weather turns at the weekend, and we are hoping to beat the weather window.” The salvage company, U.S.-based Resolve Marine, is finalizing the construction of a platform on the vessel to heat and pump its load of ultra-low sulfur fuel. “The salvors have put up a salvage plan to remove the fuel. We are hoping that either tomorrow or the next day they are going to start the pumping operation,” Tilayi added.
Ship’s Condition and Environmental Risks
The ship, which was en route to Tanzania before the emergency, fortunately grounded on a sandy beach rather than rocky outcrops, which would have increased the risk of the ship breaking apart and causing an oil spill. Tilayi noted, “The ship itself remains structurally intact, which helps us because what leads to an oil spill is when the ship breaks apart, the tanks get affected, and everything starts leaking into the sea.”
The salvage team’s efforts are crucial to preventing environmental damage and ensuring the safe removal of the fuel from the stricken vessel before the weather deteriorates.
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Source: Reuters
