A Russian salvage tug was making ready on Tuesday evening to head out to the stricken bulk carrier Cape Africa, which is currently lying 200km west of Hout Bay with a huge tear in her hull.
A source in Cape Town harbour who declined to be named said the Nikolay Chiker, a salvage tug registered in Murmansk, was discharging 1 000 tons of bunker oil — presumably to make space to take fuel off the Cape Africa.
At a media briefing earlier on Tuesday the salvors Smit Salvage said they were planning to use the Antarctic supply vessel SA Agulhas to remove 1 900 tons of heavy fuel oil from the carrier, which is in imminent danger of sinking.
However the Agulhas will not be able to reach the Cape Africa before the end of this week and there are a series of cold fronts set to hit the area from Thursday.
”I have been told time is of the essence,” said the source.
It is understood that the Nikolay Chiker will be ready to sail at about 11am on Wednesday and could reach the Cape Africa within six hours.
Earlier salvage experts were keeping their fingers crossed that the carrier would remain afloat long enough for them to pump out the heavy fuel oil the ship is carrying.
”I’m surprised she’s lasted this long,” South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) head Bill Dernier told journalists at the media briefing, held at the offices of salvors Smit Salvage in Cape Town.
The vessel, which is carrying a cargo of just under 150 000 tons of iron ore, has a tear 23m long and between five and seven metres high in her hull — a space big enough to drive a fleet of buses through seven abreast.
The cause of the tear, first noticed by the ship’s crew last week, is not known.
A big fear is that some of the Cape Africa’s bulkheads — the upright partitions between each of her nine holds — will collapse.
”If the bulkheads collapse, she’ll go down quickly; should she go down, she’ll break up dramatically, and oil will come up,” Smit Salvage head Dave Main said.
The currents would move any oil from such a disaster in a north-westerly direction, and the slick should prove ”no risk to the Cape coast”.
Main said pumping all the fuel oil out of the Cape Africa would take three days, weather permitting.
”Getting fuel off at sea is no easy task,” he warned.
Cold fronts are forecast for the area.
”Cold fronts are marching in, but they are not severe, and the swells will be about three-and-a-half metres. The weather at the moment is quite good,” Main said.
The department of environmental affairs’ acting director for integrated coastal management, Dr Niel Malan, said the chances of pollution to the South African coast were ”really remote”.
”The only concern is if — in the event of a spill — the oil is picked up by the in-shore shelf current, which extends out to the 500-metre depth line.”
However, the currents around the Cape Africa’s position — there is 4 000 metres of water under her hull — were most likely to move any such spill in a north-westerly direction at a rate of about 10km a day.
Malan said his department was happy with the way Samsa was handling the problem.
The Cape Africa is owned by U-Ming Marine Transportation Corporation. Built in 1991, she was about 300 sea miles from Cape Town, en-route from Brazil to Japan, when the crew discovered the tear in her hull. There is damage to the foremost three of the vessel’s nine holds.
The crew of the vessel were evacuated by helicopter last week. The salvage tug Smit Amandla and a Kuswag anti-pollution vessel are currently alongside the Cape Africa.
Main said the vessel’s owners were paying for the salvage. He declined to give the actual cost of the operation, saying only it was ”well up in the big figures”.
The Cape Africa’s cargo was valued at $2,8-million. – Sapa