An 18000-ton scrapped tanker adrift in Algoa Bay could pose a potential danger to shipping, Smit Pentamarine salvage director Dave Main said on Saturday. He said the situation was currently under control as both the company’s salvage tugs, Wolraad Woltemade and Gondwana, were put on stand-by. Every effort was made to ensure that The Era remained outside normal shipping lanes and off the coast, Main said. A four-man specialist salvage team put onto the powerless vessel by an airforce helicopter off Kidds Beach just south of East London on Friday, remained on board. The Era came adrift along the Transkei Wild Coast on Wednesday after the towline connecting her to the Gondwana snapped off the mouth of the Mbashe River. An Air Force helicopter was called out, but the Gondwana managed to reconnect the towline just before it arrived. When the helicopter arrived, the salvage team was dropped onto the ship’s heaving decks as a safety precaution to ensure that the towline was properly secured. The incident happened while she was being towed from South America to a breaksyard in Bangladesh. The Era’s current position is about 18kms offshore, just south of Bird Island in Algoa Bay, within sight of Port Elizabeth. – Sapa