On August 14, the obsolete
oil rig Pentagon 5000,
being towed for scrapping
in India, was abandoned
by its tug, the MV Indus
– believed to be because
the tow had parted in the
rough seas on that day.
And, with the tug
only having a basic seagoing
crew, it would be a
near-impossible task to
re-attach the tow line. As
the International Maritime
Organisation (IMO) said
in one of its reports: “Low
manning, with so-called
operational crews, makes
it extremely difficult to
fit an emergency towing
connection without a
pre-arranged system, in
particular if auxiliary
power on the vessel in
distress is not available.”
Meanwhile, the 1 368-
gross tonnage tug MV
Indus, owned by the
Indus Shipping & Trading
Corporation of Panama,
had just run for it. And,
on August 19, she was
reported by marinetraffic.
com to be sailing north
to Maputo where her
estimated time of arrival
(ETA) was logged as
August 20.
And this vessel, a
salvage specialist told
FTW, was “at 38 years
old not a young tug and
a bit on the light side for
the job”. He suggested
that it was also likely she
was “a bit underpowered
as well”.
So, until the middle
of last week this oil rig,
which had recently been
towed out of the Port of
Ngqura after a refuelling
stop for her tug, had been
left drifting off the SA
coast. And here, the big
worry for the SA Maritime
Safety Authority (Samsa),
according to Peter Newton
of Seaboard, was the
likelihood that she wasn’t
insured. Which he added,
if she ran ashore, would
mean SA would be left
with the difficult and
expensive task of removing
her.
By last Thursday (August
20) the rig was reported
to be offshore of Mossel
Bay – situated exactly half
way between Cape Town
and Port Elizabeth (both
400 km away). And this
was where the Cape Townbased
salvage operation,
Smit Amandla – contracted
by Samsa to tow the rig
to Algoa Bay – had been
making attempts to board
and connect a tow line to
its SA-flagged,
2 918-gross tonnage tug,
named, like the company,
Smit Amandla.
However, the first
attempt by the salvage
team to board the rig early
on Thursday was thwarted
by heavy fog, with the
helicopter having to return
them to Mossel Bay. But
they managed to get on
board later. They then had
a couple of failed attempts
to connect the tow in the
heavy weather.
However, on FTW’s last
contact with Smit Amandla
on Sunday evening,
executive Claire Gomes told
us that the tow had been
successfully connected on
Saturday.
“They are currently 34
nautical miles off the coast,
still heading north, with
an ETA in Algoa Bay of
Tuesday,” she added.
But the rig didn’t have
an anchor rigged, and as
Samsa had not indicated
to the salvors that another
tug had been contracted
to take over the tow to the
scrapyard, Gomes said that
it was likely the rig would
have to be towed into the
Port of Ngqura.
She has also assured
us that she will keep us
updated on the issue, so
we can keep you informed
through FTW Online.
CAPTION
Oil rig cut adrift.
In a potentially costly event for SA, a giant oil rig has just
been left drifting, unmanned and all on its own, off the coast.
