Odds against Sealand Express
2003-08-26 16:24
Cape Town - Salvors have warned that the odds are stacked against the bid they will make this weekend to refloat the Sealand Express, stranded off Cape Town's Sunset Beach.
Speaking at a media briefing in Cape Town on Tuesday, Smit Pentow spokesperson Dave Main said that as salvors they had to be optimistic.
But when asked what the odds were of pulling off the vessel, he said: "If you had to speak to mathematicians and scientists, the odds are, quite frankly, that she's not going to come off.
"If we just look at the bare figures, and with the sandbank the way it is now, we can't actually physically lighten her enough to just float her off.
"We're bargaining that, hopefully, the elements will assist us, and, of course, that the dredger will assist us." He said the attempt would be made on Saturday, when there is a spring high tide.
Three previous bids to budge the ship, now trapped in a sandy gully, have failed.
Ironically, salvors Smit Pentow are hoping for big swells and a north-west wind - weather similar to that which put the ship aground last week - to push the high tide even higher and help the vessel float out of the sandy gully in which she is trapped.
Substantial swells
Weather permitting - and in this instance, calm weather from now until Friday night - the salvors plan to use a high-volume dredger to remove sand from the seaward side of the gully that is trapping the Sealand Express.
"We believe that if the weather allows us, and we can move enough of the sand on the port side... this will push the odds up. But we certainly can't guarantee it," Main said.
Meanwhile, about 1 500 tons of fuel oil have been removed from the stricken vessel; this leaves about 1 700 tons in her tanks.
Pumping of the oil, interrupted over the weekend by "substantial swells", is expected to resume on Tuesday afternoon as the weather abates.
Speaking at the briefing, both Transport Minister Dullah Omar and Environment Minister Valli Moosa said removal of the oil was the biggest environmental concern.
Salvors said they hoped to have pumped out all the oil before the operation to pull the ship off on Saturday.
"Our biggest adversary at the moment has been the weather - it's not so much the wind as the swell," Main said.
The salvors on Tuesday also confirmed plans to start removing some of the hazardous cargo on board the vessel, which is in 33 containers on the "above decks" portion of the ship.
Safe flight path
Removal of this material - the cargo includes radioactive uranium ore, corrosive liquids, various chemicals and fireworks - will be done by helicopters.
These will be flown along a "safe flight path" over the sea, between the Sealand Express and an area specially designated within Cape Town harbour's container depot. No part of the route will be over land.
Besides two local helicopters, consideration was being given to hiring a giant Russian MI-26 helicopter. This would be capable of lifting off some of the containers, up to a maximum of 18 tons.
The full containers on the Sealand Express weighed between 12 and 30 tons.
Main said if the attempt to move the ship this weekend - pulling is set to start at about midnight on Friday, and would continue, depending on conditions, through into Sunday - was not successful, the salvors would look at other options.
These included building a causeway to the ship from Sunset Beach, and using a crane on a "jack-up barge" alongside the Sealand Express to remove the cargo.
"If we don't get her off on Saturday, there's a long wait for the next suitable time," Main warned.
- SAPA