General average declared as Sea Land remains grounded Ray Smuts A WEEK is a long time in salvage speak given the Cape’s notorious elements, but September 10 - the next high spring tide - is when yet another attempt will be made to free the grounded container ship Sea-Land Express at Sunset Beach off Cape Town. Four tugs, exerting a combined bollard pull of 450 tons, failed in two attempts to free her over the weekend and the mood has become decidedly downbeat in some quarters over the prospects of the 34 000-ton vessel being moved from the six-metre crevice in which she lies fast, even though salvors have been successful in moving her by half a ship’s length. (about 150 metres) The South African Maritime Safety Authority’s Captain Bill Dernier concedes: “There is a strong possibility she will not be refloated,” but salvage expert Godfrey Needham is more optimistic in his assessment.”Once the cargo has been removed she will float like a cork and whizz out of there.” First of the priorities, pumping most of the 3 700-tons of fuel out but leaving enough fuel for ship’s power and generators, is complete. (The Sea-Land Express has a US-destined cargo of citrus aboard) A five-ton payload helicopter has started moving the 33 containers of hazardous cargo which is being unpacked into smaller, more manageable loads and flown to the container terminal. Dernier points to a measure of confusion over ownership of the vessel. US Ship Management Inc. identified as owners are in fact the managers/operators whereas the registered owner is State Street Bank and Trust of Boston Massachussetts. Maersk Sealand is chartering the ship on a time charter. Jesse Lewis, crisis management consultant for Maersk Sealand, confirmed at the time of going to press that General Average had been declared and all customers notified. (Master mariner Needham defines GA as “each party contributing to any losses resulting from voluntary sacrifices in preserving the common venture in proportion to their value as a percentage of the whole.”) Lewis, who heads up Admiralty Associates International in the US but is currently operating out of Cape Town, says no cut-off point to the salvage operation has been mooted and that the ship is sound and in no danger of breaking up. Jonathan Mapp of P&I Associates, the vessel’s insurers, also confirms there is no cut-off as “the first prize is to get the vessel off”, and Evelyn Holtzhausen, acting as PR consultant for US Ship Management, says he has been assured the vessel is fully covered for insurance purposes. The Sea-Land Express is carrying 65 bills of lading for Cape Town covering 188 containers some of which are destined for transhipment to West Africa. The value of the Cape Town cargo or the total for that matter is not known at this stage.
