There is ”absolutely no” danger of pollution from the Maersk Sealand Express, beached close to shore at Milnerton, Cape Town, says a spokesperson for the ship’s operators.
”There is absolutely no danger of the ship breaking up or of pollution. The ship is in a better position than before and is now in a virtual dry dock. Stress monitors are also measuring ship’s well-being. As for pollution, all the ship’s oil has already been removed,” said spokesperson Evelyn John Holtzhausen over the weekend.
Efforts to refloat her on Saturday morning and night were unsuccessful and a dredger will now dig a channel from the ship to open water for the next attempt at spring tide — nine days from now.
Holtzhausen said the tide was not high enough on Saturday to pull the ship off and refloat it.
”According to a marine survey there seems to be a build-up of sand near the bow of the ship,” he said.
The salvage team, taking advantage of the high tide at 5am on Saturday morning, managed to move the Sealand Express about half a ship’s length forward.
Holtzhausen said that the team would from Sunday remove as much of the cargo on deck as possible in an effort to lighten the ship’s load.
Deck containers were currently being unloaded into a skip suspended from a helicopter. The ship’s load of firecrackers had already been unloaded and inflammable liquids were next.
The vessel has also been secured from going closer to shore.
The vessel, which grounded off Sunset Beach in Table Bay on August 19 had 3 700 tons of fuel onboard when she ran aground a sand bank during heavy weather.
The ship’s cargo included unprocessed uranium ore, corrosive liquids, various chemicals and fireworks. – Sapa