Safmarine Agulhas update

Jul 10, 2006
Author: SMIT Salvage

Good progress was made over the weekend with respect to the removal of deck cargo from the grounded container ship 'Safmarine Agulhas' and salvors are in the process of removing the last of the containers on deck. 277 containers were located on the deck of the 'Safmarine Agulhas' before the cargo removal operation began last Tuesday. Once all deck cargo has been removed, the salvage team will concentrate on removing containers stacked below deck.

Last week, water ingress was reported in two of the cargo holds and the engine room. The structural integrity of the vessel continues to be monitored and internal assessments are continuously being undertaken. Should the vessel deteriorate any further, future refloating attempts may be delayed in order to ensure that the fuel and cargo removal operations are completed. The fuel removal operation is making steady progress.

A number of proactive environmental protection measures remain in place:

The Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism's (DEAT) oil pollution patrol aircraft 'Kuswag VIII', stationed in East London, over flies the casualty daily

DEAT has mobilised oil spill abatement equipment and a team of experts to East London. This team is conducting daily beach patrols to monitor any impact on the environment

The SMIT oil pollution abatement vessel 'Kuswag IV' is on site as an additional precaution

The tug 'Smit Amandla' is connected to the 'Safmarine Agulhas' and is holding her off of the breakwater