Double trouble hits UK-bound vessel

RAY SMUTS AS SHIPPING mishaps go, last week’s off the Cape coast was unusual to say the least; an expensive boat falling from the deck of a UK-bound vessel and another catching fire on board. The container ship Lombok Strait had sailed from Cape Town for Rotterdam and Sheerness and was off Hermanus when a brand new Fast 42 yacht built in Durban at a cost of R1,2 million fell overboard and another craft, a R2 million Maxim 38 catamaran, was destroyed by fire on board the Seatrade vessel. A navigation warning was issued when the yacht drifted as far as the vicinity of Cape Point, in to land. The badly damaged fibreglass vessel was towed to Simon’s Town while the catamaran was delivered to Cape Town. In November last year, FTW reported the first facts on the Lombok Strait (built in 2002 and of 15 890 metric tons dwt), which together with her sister ship Luzan Strait are the only two specialised reefer side-loaders in the world.This means they can be loaded from both sides by means of four elevators.