Bleak outlook for grounded bulk carrier

The inhospitable waters of the Cape coast may well have claimed another victim, with a bleak prognosis for the Panamanian-registered bulk carrier Seli 1, which ran aground in stormy weather near Blaauwberg on September 7. As a massive ship-to-ship operation got under way at week’s end to transfer the vessel’s 660 tons of heavy fuel into two recipient vessels, Ocean Pride and Kuswag IV, it was evident the 29-year-old ship had suffered severe structural damage. Dave Colley, principal officer for the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa), says the vessel is “not in good shape” and that history has shown very few ships come off this coast intact. A Cape Town-based maritime lawyer who studied photographs of the stricken vessel, concludes: “This is an old ship and she is not coming off that beach in one piece. This is going to be a wreck removal, not a salvage operation.” At the time of FTW’s Monday deadline, talks were still under way between salvage companies Smit Marine South Africa and Greek company Tsavliris over who has the contract to salvage the Turkish vessel. Smit maintains a verbal Lloyd’s Open Form was agreed to between the masters of the bulk carrier and the tug, Smit Amandla, while Tsavliris says it has a written, signed agreement with TEB Maritime, the vessel’s owners. It is Smit, however, that has been charged by Samsa to remove the fuel load, the authority unconcerned over who lands the contract as long as the job gets done. A number of proactive precautionary measures have been put in place to reduce the impact of any oil pollution from the Seli 1, en route from Durban to Gibraltar with 30 000 tons of coal when disaster struck.