FFS commits to second new bunker barge

Terry Hutson WORK WILL begin immediately on building a second new bunker barge for use at an as-yet-unannounced South African port. Tony Hurter, chairman of FFS Bunkers, made the announcement last Friday shortly after his wife Diane had christened the company's latest bunker barge Black Egret at Durban's N-Shed, in front of several hundred clients, suppliers and friends. Hurter said that bunkering was a tough business requiring large investment with small returns. "For example, the price we receive today, in US dollars, is lower than when we started bunkering 18 years ago." Black Egret is the first ship off the slipway at Elgin Brown & Hamer's shipyard since the giant salvage tug John Ross in 1976. Built to international standards under the supervision of Det Norske Veritas and SAMSA the barge is 58m long by 10m wide, and carries 1 000 tonnes of fuel which can be delivered at a rate of 400 cubic metres an hour. "Barge bunkering has picked up in the major South African ports because of the deterioration of aging wharfside fuel-oil pipelines, which can only be replaced at a huge cost, and because it doesn't interfere with cargo loading," said FFS general manager Captain Phil Harris. "At present barge deliveries account for about 20 % of the bunkers taken on by ships in Durban, but this should increase with the introduction of Black Egret. In addition more black oil for bunkers is expected to be available from the refineries at the end of next year." FFS Bunkers successfully introduced the barge Pelican into Cape Town last year and already operates barges at Richards Bay and Durban, as well as the coastal tanker Dolphin Coast. "The development of the bunker fleet will facilitate the group's plans to enter the oil import and export business," said Harris.