TERRY HUTSON THE INTERNATIONAL salvage firm of SvitzerWijsmuller, part of the giant AP Møller/Maersk group of companies, launched its southern African region operation last week with functions in Cape Town and Durban. The Southern African regional office is led by well-known and highly respected Captain Nic Sloane, who has been joined by his former team of salvage experts at Smit Salvage, where Sloane was himself a former Salvage Master. SvitzerWijsmuller has its head office in Safmarine House in Cape Town as well as a warehouse elsewhere in the city and intends opening an office and warehouse in Durban shortly. The firm’s salvage capability has been immediately enhanced with the arrival of a large salvage tug on station in southern African waters, the 2005-built offshore tug Zakher Delmon. Since opening the southern African office the local SvitzerWijsmuller team has already operated successfully on five international salvages in addition to salvaging the cargo from the shipwrecked Kiperousa off the South African Eastern Cape coast.
