No one wants the wrecked bulk carrier Seli 1 – not her Turkish owners nor their Russian P&I insurers, her erstwhile Cape Town agents and least of all the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa). Problem is, what to do with the stricken 29-yearold ship that ran aground at Table View Beach near Cape Town on September 7? Moving her will be an extremely costly exercise – as much as R110 million on top of R6.7 million to remove 660 tons of fuel, an operation successfully completed by Smit Salvage on orders from Samsa. The ship’s owners and insurers have made it clear they cannot pay for the fuel, cargo and wreck removal, which makes it seem most likely that the treasury will be approached to foot the bill, at huge expense to the South African taxpayer. “The wreck, consisting of both ship and cargo, has effectively been abandoned,” says Samsa regional manager, Captain Dave Colly. He makes the point that there is no precedent for such a predicament in recent history and that it will be up to government to decide whether or not it wishes to pay. Funding is unlikely to come from anywhere else. The vessel has extensive damage to the hull and a flooded engine room so any attempt to refloat her would only be so that she could be sunk in deeper waters – the most cost-effective solution. One suggestion, as a means of recovering some of the costs, is to remove and sell the 30 000-ton cargo of coal but this will be an expensive undertaking and realise much less than the overall costs. Colly says if Seli 1 were to be removed from where she lies, a chance exists in the medium term that the coal may spontaneously ignite in the unflooded holds. “In the medium to longer term the vessel will slowly be rent apart by the sea and comprise a twisted and jagged jumble of steel, presenting an extreme hazard to surfers, kitesurfers, swimmers and boaters.” Recalling the title of a fictional story penned by Nicholas Monsarrat, if ever there was a “ship that died of shame”, Seli 1 is surely it.
