Agulhas drama underlines need for tugs
I DIGRESS from shipping for a moment as it has been a week of queuing.
Last week it was for the car licence; this week, as my online passport application failed umpteen times, I set course – twice – well before daybreak for the Wynberg Home Affairs office to apply in person.
“Queue outside KFC!” a voice commanded over a loudspeaker. More than four hours later, and trading on my ever-increasing age, I staggered from the place clutching my receipt for the passport fee. A youngster would have grown old in that long queue!
A saving grace for the Home Affairs folks who would have been the target of my bromming was the exceptional service I received from one of the three officials at the counter – there were six unattended counters! – who was a most pleasant and helpful lady, despite battling several computer shutdowns while I waited.
The queues are undeserved by South African taxpayers, seeking a necessary service from the government. The photos of leading government figures, including the home affairs minister and his deputy, smirking at those in the office increased my blood pressure. Home Affairs is an embodiment of governmental inadequacies.
While I was queuing, a significant maritime drama was under way off Cape Agulhas. When the 366m containership, MSC Katrina, became immobilised on Sunday night, the salvage tug, SA Amandla, that had been standing by the immobilised ore carrier, Flag Seaman, in Saldanha Bay for about 10 days hastened down the coast to render assistance.
Like an increasing number of containerships rounding the Cape, MSC
Katrina is a large vessel of around 366m and a cargo capacity of more than 12 000 teu. Bound from West Africa to the Far East via Sri Lanka, she is carrying thousands of containers, of which many are probably empty, such is the trade from west Africa to the Orient.
As MSC's major African hub is Durban where the company has developed a good network among local ancillary services, including ship repairers, the convoy probably will head for the KwaZulu-Natal port. However, as the tug probably will keep well clear of the coast, she could encounter the strong contrary Agulhas Current, making it a lengthy operation. An aggravating factor could be a shift in the wind to the north-east, a head wind for the laden containership.
While this operation will have a happy ending, it should be remembered that, as the wind along the southern coast is often onshore, an immobilised vessel – especially one with a significant deck load of containers and therefore extraordinarily high windage – can be in serious danger. Local onshore sets add to the danger, although good anchoring gear is available on well-found ships. No ship that has run aground on the rocky coastline around Cape Agulhas – noted for its frequent heavy seas has ever been refloated and resumed service. The Ellerman freighter City of Lincoln was refloated from Quoin Point in March 1947 after a complex, five-month salvage operation but was scrapped in Cape Town; ashore at Cape Agulhas in 1971, the tanker Wafra was also refloated – fortunately as she was fully laden with around 60 000 tons of crude oil – but was towed 200 nautical miles south and sunk by the air force.
Given the size of the casualty, the current operation is difficult, and re-emphasises the necessity of the emergency standby tug concept
that was started in South Africa in 1976 with the construction of the two big salvage tugs, the 45-year-old SA Amandla being the surviving tug. With heavy seas in some areas, strong currents, counter currents, and frequent fog in some areas, ships sometimes have difficult coastwise passages.
Besides the adverse physical factors, the increasing size of containerships and ore carriers using the Cape route – the latter either in ballast or fully laden – and large tankers off the coast, present the potential for serious maritime accidents. Some of the large vessels will have thousands of tons of bunkers aboard, enough to make a real mess of part of our beautiful coastline, should an accident occur.
The country needs to be ready to meet any challenge resulting from a major maritime accident that can happen at any time, despite the plethora of local and international legislation covering aspects of shipping – and
accidents can befall well-found ships operated by very reputable companies.
Although the weather off Agulhas seems to have been kind during the current incident, another maritime accident might be played out amid very different meteorological conditions. The potential cost in lives, in damage to or loss of ships or cargo, and the cost of cleaning up a major pollution incident demand that at least one, but preferably two, large powerful salvage tugs – backed up by helicopters – are permanently available along the coast. In addition, we are fortunate to have experienced salvage tug crews and shoreside support teams to ensure success in these operations. These folks seldom receive the credit they deserve.