ONE OF Portnet's pilot boats, the LA Dickinson, (pictured above), has been shipped from Durban to Cape Town as deck cargo on board the Safmarine container vessel SA Helderberg.
The 107 dwt pilot boat was transferred from Richards Bay following the successful implementation of a helicopter pilot service at that port. Earlier she had sailed to Durban under her own power for general maintenance work at the dockyard, before her move to Cape Town.
The LA Dickinson, which was built locally in 1976 by Dorman Long, will join a sister pilot boat already on duty at Cape Town harbour, releasing a smaller pilot boat for transfer to Port Elizabeth. We're busy swopping all our toys around, a Portnet spokesman told FTW.
According to Portnet it was preferable to ship the LA Dickinson to Cape Town rather than have her sail down the coast, which would have meant putting a crew on board and having to call at one of the other ports en route for bunkers.
