Another blow for stranded bulk carrier

The Cape’s unforgiving seas last week dealt a mortal blow to the stranded bulk carrier Seli 1, scuttling plans to refloat, recycle or sink her offshore. Captain Dave Colly, regional manager for the South African Maritime Safety Association (Samsa), makes clear the “local” plan to remove and sell the 30 000- ton cargo of coal is also on the chopping block, due to the intransigence of the Seli 1’s cargo owners. Problematic too is the lack of material support from other authorities who initially supported the removal plan and the deteriorating condition of the 29-year-old Turkish-owned carrier. “Without effective and direct support from affected and involved authorities, especially Transnet National Ports Authority, there is no prospect of the plan’s success.” It will now be up to salvage companies to decide whether it is worth producing wreck removal plans for the State to consider. Wreck and cargo removal would be an extremely costly exercise, estimated at around R110 million, and were funding to be secured it seems likely Seli 1 could suffer the same fate as Safmarine Agulhas, systematically cut up and hauled to the scrapyard, after suffering engine failure and running aground outside the port of East London in June 2006. The cost of removing the fuel, undertaken by Smit Salvage at the behest of Samsa, runs to around R6.7 million.