SA Amandla goes to aid of disabled Pacific Queen
Powerful, deep-draughted tug tows laden ore carrier from mid-Atlantic
AS CAPETONIANS were battling the peak-hour traffic several mornings ago, some may have noticed the salvage tug SA Amandla hastening to sea. Almost in mid-Atlantic west of Cape Town, the laden 175 918-deadweight ore carrier Pacific Queen lay disabled with main engine failure.
For the ship’s main engine to be totally immobilised, a distant diagnosis points to a problem associated with her camshaft, or crankshaft, or main bearings. Fixing many other causes of main engine failure should be within the scope of the usual spares kept on board for such emergencies, and within the ability of a ship’s engineers to perform at least temporary repairs to enable her to reach port.
With a full iron ore cargo and a loaded draught of more than 18 metres, Pacific Queen presents a formidable resistance in the water.
Fortunately, more than 42 winters ago, the tug’s designers gave her sufficient power and an adequate displacement weight so that once the towing line has been made fast, she can overcome the initial inertia of such a deep-draughted ship to get her moving and to keep her moving, especially into a head wind, head sea or contrary current.
It will be a slow voyage from the mid-Atlantic – at about 5 or 6 knots – understandably so, given the size and draught of the vessel under tow.
As the ore carrier is too deep to enter Cape Town harbour, she will probably be towed to Saldanha Bay, which is large and deep enough for the 292m vessel to anchor safely while repairs are under way.
Pacific Queen is registered in the Marshall Islands, an extensive archipelago of more than 1 500 small islands in the north-western Pacific Ocean.
Although some are reminiscent of the Robinson Crusoe island, many of these islands have a low profile, making them susceptible to inundation by any significant rise in sea level, or by a tsunami, which could happen, given that many of the atolls forming the island group have volcanic origins.
Although the Marshall Islands’ ship registry – the third largest behind Panama and Liberia – is domiciled in the US, its revenue remains a source of income for the islands.
On her present voyage, Pacific Queen loaded at the relatively new Brazilian bulk port of Porto du Acu, north-east of Rio de Janeiro. She was scheduled to bunker at Singapore before proceeding to China, one of many ore carriers and large colliers on the route between South America and Asia.
In August 2014, the first iron ore to be exported through Port du Acu came via a 529km slurry pipeline from the Anglo-American mine and processing plant in the mineral-rich state of Minas Gerais. The port also exports oil and oil products as well as bauxite, the mineral from which alumina is obtained to be refined to aluminium.
Older docklanders will recall Safmarine’s first new bulker, the 23 980-deadweight SA Sugela, custom built to carry bulk sugar from Durban to Japan. On her maiden voyage to Durban she was caught in a tropical cyclone while crossing the Indian Ocean.
Despite the master desperately altering course away from the savage weather, the ship was battered by the full fury of the storm for more than 30 hours.
A more agreeable experience awaited those who sailed eastwards on the sugar carrier’s first laden voyage. After discharging her cargo in Japan, she crossed the Pacific Ocean to Stockton, California, to load about 20000 tons of iron ore for Japan. (Ore cargoes were a lot smaller then than the large consignments currently shipped in huge ore carriers!)
Another trans-Pacific passage in ballast took her through the Panama Canal to Beaumont in Texas where, after two weeks at anchor, she loaded wheat for Lourenco Marques (Maputo).
On her regular voyages on the sugar run, SA Sugela returned from Japan to Durban in ballast, a very costly operation, although the crew used the empty holds to play badminton, soccer and volleyball –navigators versus engineers, officers against ratings, pick-up sides playing tournaments.
However, when the aluminium smelter began operations in Richards Bay in 1971, SA Sugela was diverted on each westbound voyage to load alumina at the Gove Peninsula in northern Australia.
Initially, she brought the alumina to Durban, whence it was railed to Richards Bay for refining. That practice changed once Richards Bay had its own bulk cargo-handling facilities, enabling the ship and her later consort, SA Sukumbi, to call directly at Richards Bay to discharge directly onto a conveyor system that fed the smelter.
Less bulk sugar moves out of Durban now, sugar exports shifting towards using 1-ton bags that can be shipped in tweendeckers or containers, the latter being preferred as they can be loaded or discharged even in rain.
The current tow in the South Atlantic underlines the importance to the country of such a powerful, deepdraughted tug, crewed and operated by experienced people. But who will build her replacement?