Ray Smuts BIZARRE BEST sums up stubborn weather patterns that have all but denied the Western Cape its annual winter rain thus far. The result has been slim pickings for the marine casualty response industry in the absence of the traditional months of storms between May and June. Cape Town master mariner and salvage expert Godfrey Needham notes ocean swells as high as 10 metres were only recently observed off Cape Town. “We have effectively missed three months of typically bad weather,” he told FTW. Needham says salvage is an “opportunistic”, high-risk industry in that there can be no early warning, all of which makes it essential to diversify business. His Offshore Maritime Services marine surveying and launch service by former Portnet tug the Hawk are but two such diversifications. The vessel ferries personnel, mail and equipment to bypassing vessels a maximum of 10 nautical miles out to sea, and on occasion returns stowaways. That marine casualty business has been bleak this year is borne out by the Russian tug Nikolai Chicker, one of the world’s most powerful, lying dormant in its home port of Cape Town for a good while. Only recently did she pick up a contract to remove an 8 000-ton grounded cargo vessel laden with bagged sugar in Namibe. Offshore Maritime Services, claimed by Needham to be the only dedicated towage and salvage broker in Africa, was involved in another operation last week to set up a tow after a 1 000 TEU container ship, the Cape Henry, suffered engine failure off Maputo. The vessel was on her way to the Port of Durban from East Africa but the tow was not required as her crew managed to effect repairs and she was due to arrive in the Port of Richards Bay on Friday morning.
