SAMSA, NGOs rally jointly to save starving crew members on board three reportedly abandoned vessels in Durban.

_{FOOD ON BOARD: Some of 18 crew members of three vessels reportedly abandoned at the port of Durban, South Africa; receiving food parcels arranged between the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA), Meals on Wheels Community Services SA and the Mission for Seafarers on 18 January 2022.} _{With the seafarers are (far left) Mr Sibusiso Rantsoabe of SAMSA, (third right) Mission to Seafarers Durban port Chaplain, Reverend Thami Tembe and Ms Germaine Melody Cecil Jolene Maasz of Meals on Wheels Community Services SA.}

UPDATE:

Pretoria: 28 January 2022

Publication of this story on Monday this week has, possibly expectedly; elicited wide public attention in South Africa and abroad. As a consequence, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) has sought to assist enhanced public awareness about the situation by providing more granular detail through media interviews including national television. Some of the interviews shared here include one of the sailors on board the vessels. Click on the links below for more. Please do note that these are totally independent reports by news media and only shared here for purposes of enhancing public awareness about the situation.

Pretoria: 24 January 2022

A group of 18 seafarers grappling with apparent abandonment on three vessels docked in Durban have been sparred at least a month of hunger and starvation, thanks to the intervention of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) acting jointly with two non-governmental organisations, Meals on Wheels Community Services SA and Mission to Seafarers this past week.

According to the organisations in a joint statement on Monday, the crews are manning three vessels reportedly abandoned by their owners – two of these vessels stranded for between two (2) and five (5) years ago – as a result of which the 18 seafarers are battling daily for necessities but especially food.

SAMSA confirmed separately that it has and continues to be constantly involved in efforts to resolve issues revolving around the fate of the vessels since about five years ago but would not divulge details due to confidentiality related reasons among those parties involved.

_{DELIVERING FOOD AID: On site to deliver food parcels to 18 crew members of three vessels reportedly abandoned at the port of Durban on 18 January 2022 are (From Left) Meals on Wheels South Africa offical, Ms Germain Melody Cell, Jolene Masssz and Meals on Wheels national programme director Mr Gershon Naidoo and SAMSA seafarers welfare manager Mr Sibusiso Rantsoabe.}

In the joint statement, the parties said: “The vessels PSD2 and Fairy Tale have been at the port of Durban for between five (5) and two (2) years respectively while the PSD104 arrived at the port earlier this month. The vessels are currently manned by 18 seafarers collectively, one (1) Iranian, six (6) Bangladeshi and 11 Indians.

“The 18 seafarers have not been paid salaries for several months and were running out of food in a matter of hours which prompted Reverend Tembe from the Mission to Seafarers to make a desperate call to SAMSA for assistance.

“SAMSA in turn made a call to the Meals on Wheels Community Services South Africa who, without hesitation, made food parcels available to the seafarers.

“The food parcels comprising various nutritious foods were delivered to the 18 seafarers on 18 January 2022 by a team from Meals on Wheels Community Services South Africa led by its National Programmes Director Mr Gershon Naidoo. It is estimated that the food supplies will last the seafarers for up to four (4) weeks,” said the entities in the statement.

According to SAMSA, whose legislated mandate expressly includes the active protection of life and property at sea, vessels and crew abandonments are a general phenomenon.

Citing the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), SAMSA said abandonment of ships and crew at sea was characterised by a situation where “a shipowner fails to fulfil certain fundamental obligations to the seafarer relating to timely repatriation and payment of outstanding remuneration and to the provision of necessities of life, inter alia, adequate food, accommodation, and medical care.

“Abandonment will have occurred when the master of the ship has been left without any financial means in respect of ship operation.”

SAMSA further quoted the IMO as saying that as many as 438 abandoned ships involving 5,767 seafarers were recorded globally between 2004 – 2020 and that estimates indicated that “there are many other cases worldwide which go unreported.”

In fact, the IMO notes that: “There has been a dramatic rise in cases over the past three years following the entry into force on 18 January 2017 of the 2014 amendments to MLC (Maritime Labour Convention) 2006 concerning financial security in cases of abandonment.”

In addition to various other instruments and activities to manage cases of ships and crew abandonments, the IMO says it works closely with organisations such as the International Labour Organisation, the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) to maintain a database of incidents, and encourages especially its more than 150 Member States globally to report such cases to the international organisation on occurrence.

“A Member State or an organization accredited to ILO or IMO is entitled to report an abandonment incident. The following stakeholders are consequently entitled to report to the database:

Flag States may report cases of abandonment in their jurisdictions. The State the flag of which the abandoned vessel is flying has the primary responsibility to repatriate the abandoned seafarer or fisher if the shipowner fails to make arrangements for, or to meet the cost of, repatriation.

Port States may report cases of abandonment in their jurisdictions. The State in the port of which the abandoned vessel is situated has a secondary responsibility to repatriate the abandoned seafarer or fisher.

Labour-supplying States may report cases of abandonment in their jurisdictions. The country of nationality of the abandoned seafarer or fisher also has a responsibility to repatriate the abandoned seafarer or fisher if the flag or port States fail to do so.

NGOs with consultative or observer status in IMO or ILO.

The procedure to be followed in reporting cases of ships and crew abandonment is outlined on the IMO’s website, including the contacts details applicable.

Meanwhile, in Pretoria on Monday, SAMSA, Meals on Wheels Community SA and Mission for Seafarers committed to continue working jointly in the meantime in efforts to alleviate the plight of abandoned crews.

According to SAMSA; “The Mission to Seafarers through their Durban Port Chaplain, Reverend Thami Tembe, has been working alongside SAMSA to provide relief to the distressed seafarers. Reverend Tembe who has become like a father to these seafarers have been providing them with emotional support and spiritual counselling and organising food supplies.”

Meals on Wheels Community Services SA, well known for helping those who are poverty-stricken within the borders of South Africa with nutritious meals and food security, said its involvement in the Durban situation was its first venture into the maritime space “and we hope that there will be many more opportunities to partner with SAMSA and The Mission to Seafarers,” said Mr Naidoo.

Mr Naidoo added that members of the public keen to land a hand were welcome to do so. “Should (anyone) wish to know more or like to get involved with us, (they may) visit our website https://mealsonwheels.org.za/ , email us at info@mealsonwheels.org.za or check out “Meals on Wheels Community Services” Social Media pages.

End

More regulations contemplated for small water-craft in SA waters to enhance safety: SAMSA

Pretoria: 07 May 2021

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) has given notice that it will revise regulations relating to the utilisation of small vessels such as ski-boats to facilitate implementation of more safety measures to secure the lives of users and the general environment.

The notice published as Marine Alert MA 01-21, according to SAMSA, comes in the wake of an incident in East London earlier this year during which two young people lost control of a ski-boat and one of the youths was injured after being struck by the out of control vessel, resulting in him suffering lacerations to the face and other injuries.

The incident, according to SAMSA, occurred at about 11am on 13 January 2021 on the Nahoon River near East London. An investigation established that; “Two teenagers were operating a small (regulation 37) ski-boat on the Nahoon river when they both fell overboard into the river whilst making a sharp turn. The boat then did circles on the river and witnesses called the NSRI to assist. Whilst in the water, the boat hit one of the two teenagers who sustained lacerations to the face and injuries to the body,” reads the notice.

It further states that: “The vessel was found to have had a kill-switch which had not been in operation. There had been no SVCC (small vessel certificate of competency) aboard. The operation of a kill-switch had not occurred as intended by the manufacturer, because operation of a kill-switch on Regulation 37 vessels is not mandatory, and thus perceived as not required. There had been no adult supervision or competent skipper to oversee the vessel operation.”

According to SAMSA; “The incident had a potential loss of one fatality/permanent injury, along with damage to local jetties and other small craft that were operating in the area, and minor pollution in Marine reserve.”

SAMSA says the incident reflected on a few issues of concern including that:

Certain Regulation 37 vessels (≤15HP) are powerful enough to tow a skier at speed and should thus be used with caution, especially if used by underaged/unqualified persons; and then only under supervision of a qualified skipper or an adult.
When a vessel is fitted with a kill-switch, the owner/operator should operate the vessel as intended.
Any safety device/equipment that is onboard a vessel when in operation, should be used appropriately, even if that vessel is not required by regulation to have it onboard.

In efforts to prevent potentially deadly incidents of the nature in the future, the agency states that:

“SAMSA strongly recommends that the owner/operator of any Regulation 37 vessel fitted with an operational kill-switch, should operate the kill-switch as intended. SAMSA will also revise regulations and consider the inclusion of appropriate Regulation 37 vessels in the requirements for kill-switches.”

Meanwhile, in a related Marine Alert (MA 02 21) also published this week, SAMSA reported on findings of shipping related accidents that occurred at both the port of Durban between 28 April 2020 and 26 October 2020, as well as the anchorage in Algoa Bay, and during which ropes and ladders were a common cause of slippages, resulting in injuries.

“In all four cases,” notes SAMSA; “….a fall from a height occurred. Two (2) of the four (4) incidents resulted in people being hospitalised.”

The agency restated the critical regulations governing the use of ropes and ladders on vessels at sea.

SAMSA said: “IMO Res A1045 (27) paragraph 2 lists the following requirements for ropes used in the construction of pilot ladders. Paragraph 5 lists the following requirements for hand rails at the pilot boarding area:

The side ropes of the pilot ladder should consist of two uncovered ropes not less than18 mm in diameter on each side and should be continuous, with no joints, and have a breaking strain of at least 24 Kilo Newtons per side rope.
Side ropes should be made of Manila or other material of equivalent strength, durability, elongation characteristics and grip which has been protected against actinic degradation and is to the satisfaction of the Administration.
Adequate handholds should be provided at the point of embarking or disembarking from the ship via pilot ladder. These hand holds should not be spaced less than 700mm and not more than 800mm apart.”

For further detailed reading, the Marine Alert Notices are published on the SAMSA website. Further inquiries may be directed to SAMSA via this email address: Email: marinenotices@samsa.org.za

End.

Three year nurdles mess clean-up draws to an end; SAMSA

However, even with 38 of 49 metric tons of the plastic pellets recovered, monitoring will continue for four more years.
SAMSA

Pretoria: 29 March 2021

With about 38 metric tons of the approximately 49 MT of nurdles that accidentally fell off a cargo ship and into seawaters off the coast of Durban in 2017 now recovered, the three years clean-up operation of approximately 290 kilometres of coastline since launched has officially been brought to an end, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) has announced.

According to SAMSA, the decision to end the three year clean-up operation – taken in consultation with various other interested and involved parties including the Department of Environment, Fisheries and Forestry (DEFF) KZN Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA), Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife and Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) – was made on the basis that the residue of nurdles lately observed through monitoring of affected areas, had become negligible and therefore no longer justified continued recovery.

In addition, crucially, the high- and low-density polyethylene pellets were not only found to be non-hazardous, but it had also been established that they had not caused any known or reported damage or harm either to the ecology of the heavily affected area nor to living mammals both inland and at sea.

*The start of the nurdles clean-up on the Durban beachfront in October 2018. (SAMSA File Photos)*

However, according to SAMSA, monitoring of the South African coastline along the KwaZulu-Natal province will continue for four more years and in the event of a resurfacing of enough quantities of the plastic nurdles, if necessary, another recovery operation will be instituted.

The formal official cessation of the clean-up operation, according to SAMSA – the coordinator of the operation – comes after more than 160 bags of the nurdles, measuring some 38.8MT in weight, were successfully recovered over the three-year period since the accidental spillage occurred in the second half of 2017.

The spillage into sea of the millions of small nurdles in 25-kilogram bags drew domestic and global attention after they were ripped off their transportation containers into the Durban harbour during a massive wind that wreaked havoc on ships in the Durban harbour on 10 October 2017.

Two of the lost containers, off the MSC Susana vessel, were loaded with the nurdles cargo. The nurdles involved, regarded as non-biodegradable, were described as small plastic pellets of about five (5) millimetres in diameter, with a flotation density of 0.91-0.97 grams per cubic centimetre (g/cmᵌ).

Shortly after the incident, SAMSA together with the DEFF, the KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA), Transnet, environmental groups including Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, vessel owners, MSC, London based International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd (ITOPF), salvage and emergency group, Resolve Marine; as well as various other parties, launched an extensive and intensive recovery project of the plastic nurdles all along the KwaZulu-Natal coastline, but with specific focus on a 290km area of the coast where the pellets found concentration.

The aim of the clean-up operation according to SAMSA, was three-fold (a) to reduce impact on human life, (b) to recover the pellets as quickly as possible (c) and to minimize impact on the environment.

The clean-up operation reliant partly on a scientific modelling to hopefully accurately predict movement of the pellets, would therefore essentially also involve an inspection of almost the entire South African oceans coastline, from Richards Bay through to the Western Cape.

According to SAMSA, the coastline inspection found evidence of nurdles presence in some of the areas, particularly in the Western Cape and some areas of the Eastern Cape. However, the nurdles found here were established to have come mainly from industrial waste discharges rather that from the Durban port ship incident in question. In other areas such as Port St Johns on the Wild Coast, concentrations were very low.

SAMSA says that with concerns also related to ocean currents movements along the Indian Ocean, the pellets might end up polluting the seas along other countries as far as Australia, enquiries were made. But these elicited no clear evidence of such widespread dispersion or leakage over the last three years.

Instead, after both aerial and land inspections, the greatest concentration of the nurdles deposition was found to have occurred largely just north of the Durban port city in an area of coastal high dune concentrations, inshore reefs and beaches as well as river mouths incorporating Addington, Port Dunford, Dokodweni, the Tugela River through to uMhlathuze towards Richards Bay.

SAMSA said final reports of monitoring and recovery by some of its participating partners, the DEFF, the KZZ EDTEA and ITOPF late last year, indicated that “the affected areas have received relatively low levels of recharge of SABIC plastic nurdles and, applying the ‘law of diminishing returns’, all recovery operations on all affected areas to be ceased.”

SAMSA and its partners in the operation would continue to “keep an ear and eye on the ground” for any possibility of nurdles resurfacing, and where deemed necessary, action will be taken to recover them.

Asked what has been done with the recovered 38,8MT of nurdles; SAMSA said these were recycled and used to make park benches dedicated to the late Ms Caroline Reid formerly a secretary of KwaZulu-Natal’s Marine Waste Network. Ms Reid reportedly passed away in July 2018 after being involved a vehicle accident in Durban. She was 41 years old at the time.

*Captain Nicholas Stone. Director: Marine Resolve Group*

Meanwhile, it has emerged that following to the Durban port nurdles spillage incident, the South African government through the Department of Transport, SAMSA and DEFF is being urged by shipping transport industry players to support a call on the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to review shipping containers stowage such as that of plastic nurdles, and where possible, require that such cargo be relocated to the underdeck of cargo spaces of ships.

Parties to the call in South Africa include Resolve Marine whose executive, Mr Nicholas Sloane confirmed his company’s approach to the IMO about the matter.

According to Mr Sloane, prevention of loss at sea of material such as nurdles from ship’s cargo due to sea conditions and related accidents can be achieved with proper, purposeful stowage aboard vessels. This, he says, is necessary also because generally, seafarers manning cargo vessels are not always aware of contents of containers being transhipped.

“With over 3 000 containers lost in the oceans every so often, nurdles are the worst cargo to be lost.” says Mr Sloane.

End.

Durban port clean-up underway after massive floods debris – TNPA

port clean up 1 — A photo showing the debris that swamped the Durban port after major rains caused flooding in the area over the last few days. Clean-up is now currently underway according to the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA). (Photos supplied by TNPA)

Pretoria: 25 April 2019

A major clean-up of the Durban port is now fully underway following to a deluge of tons of debris – mostly plastic – that swamped the port due to heavy rains and flooding that affected the area over the last few days.

This is according to the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) in a statement issued in Durban on Thursday. The statement reads as follows:

dbn port clean up 1.jpg

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) at the Port of Durban has commenced a major clean-up to remove the large volume of waste and vegetation from the port after the recent heavy rains and flooding in KwaZulu-Natal.

The adverse weather caused the usual deluge of plastic and other debris to flow into the port, leaving behind an unsightly scene just days after World Earth Day was observed globally on 22 April.

Acting Durban Port Manager, Nokuzola Nkowane, said all Transnet Operating Divisions were carrying out assessments to establish the full extent of damage caused by the storm.

“Our thoughts are with all those affected by the recent heavy rains and flooding. We would also like to appeal to the public to please help curb plastic pollution as this causes huge problems when the debris flows into the harbour,” she said.

She said the port’s pollution control teams were on site tackling the debris within port waters, aided by clean-up teams from SpillTech, Drizit and ZMK Enterprises. Progress is slow due to the sheer volume of material that still continues to wash in.

The debris included large logs that posed a threat to the safe navigation of the harbour craft which are used to guide vessels safely in and around the port. The port has been fully operational however, the ingress of waste impacted on vessel movements and as of midday on Wednesday three vessels were unable to berth or sail in the Maydon Wharf precinct, Nkowane confirmed.

“The combined catchment area of the rivers, canals and storm-water drainage systems that drain into the port is over 200km² in size. The unfortunate reality is the port waters are on the receiving end of the large volume of litter, effluent and sewage that is discharged into the storm-water reticulation system within the catchment,” said Nkowane.

“We must all take responsibility for the well-being of the ocean and coastal environment, and as TNPA we want to help create awareness and promote sustainable practices for the benefit of present and future generations,” she said.

TNPA has been in regular engagements with the eThekwini Municipality regarding the interventions required to address the ingress of waste and effluent into the port from the municipal stormwater network which drains a significant portion of the Durban metropolitan area.

The port’s pollution control department shared the following tips for the public to help in tackling the massive plastic problem:

Avoid single-use plastic, which is any plastic item used only once, such as plastic straws and plastic packaging. Plastic is a material that lasts for hundreds of years, yet is often used for only a short time before it is discarded.

Get into the habit of recycling and avoid throwing away recyclable items as part of your normal weekly refuse disposal. Items that can and should be recycled include glass, cardboard and paper, tin and aluminium cans (for example from canned food and cool drink), certain plastics such as bottles for drinks and cleaning products. Items should be rinsed before being put into a recycling bin.

Get involved in clean-ups, such as those arranged by #CleanBlueLagoon, KZN Beach Clean Up and Durban Bay Cleanup.

Observe environmental days such as World Earth Day on 22 April (held under the theme ‘End Plastic Pollution’ in 2018), National Marine Week in the second week of October (under the theme ‘Plastic is Drastic’ in 2018) and World Environment Day on 5 June (under the theme “Beat Plastic Pollution” in 2018)

Support organisations such as Durban Green Corridors, Durban Partnership against Plastic Pollution (D-PAPP) and Greenpeace Africa which help to fight plastic and other pollution.

Ends

Durban port ship collision: SAMSA to investigate.

Pretoria: 15 April 2018

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) confirmed on Sunday an investigation underway into the collision of a ship and a tug at the port of Durban at the weekend.

According to the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), the collision occurred on Friday between a car carrier vessel and an inactive tug. No one was injured in the accident, said TNPA spokesperson, Ms Ayanda Somagaca

“On the morning of Friday, 13 April 2018, Transnet National Ports Authority (Port of Durban) was notified that a car carrier vessel, CSCC ASIA, operated by Hoegh Autoliners, had collided with the inactive tug Inyalazi while berthing alongside at the R-Shed in the port’s Point Precinct.

“No injuries were reported as there were no employees on board the tug Inyalazi. Damage occurred to the quayside and the tug sustained a hole on its side which has resulted in an ingress of water into the tug. Tug Umbilo was deployed to the site with a salvage pump to remove the water from Inyalazi.

“Divers and Port of Durban marine crew were on site to closely assess the extent of the damage for the purposes of blocking water from entering the tug. SAMSA arrived at the scene to assess the damage to the Tug and the Commercial Vessel,” said Ms Somagaca

She said operations at the port were running as normal and that the car carrier vessel had been able to continue with its operations while the tug would be moved a dry dock for repairs.

In Durban on Sunday, SAMSA’s Captain Saroor Ali, confirmed that an investigation by the agency was underway to determine the cause of the accident.

“Investigation is in progress and the cause leading to the incident can only be determined on concluding the investigation which involves statements from the ship and tug boat crew and relevant eyewitness personnel.

“SAMSA accident investigations guided by the South African Merchant Shipping Act, are conducted to ascertain the factors contributing to the accident, give recommendations so as to avoid re-occurrence,” said Captain Ali.

End

Plastic pellets clean up along Durban coastline now fully underway: SAMSA

Durban: 30 October 2017

A massive, painstaking and possibly long term clean up of the coastline for miles north and south of Durban to rid it of very tiny pellets that have polluted the area since the blistering rainstorm of 10 October 2017 and which left the port city with a repair bill worth an estimated R600-million, is now fully underway.

This is according to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) a State agency charged with among other things, the environmental sound integrity of the country’s oceans.

As of Monday 30 October 2017, teams of workers have been hard at work since about a week ago retrieving the tiny pellets from the coastline sand in Durban with hope to reduce as much as is possible the float of the nurdles.

This followed a SAMSA directive to shipping group, the Mediterranean Shipping Company – operators of a shipping vessel from which the damaged containers carrying the cargo were lost and apparently deposited at sea – to conduct an assessment of the scale of pollution caused following the loss of cargo into the water in Durban harbour during the torrential natural disaster rainstorm that took place in earlier October .

On October 10, the day of the rainstorm, SAMSA and the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) had to prioritize the refloating and remooring of five drifting vessels and three of which had grounded in the port due to the extraordinary weather conditions characterized by very strong winds and rain.From the day onward, SAMSA supported by TNPA had been actively involved in containing and minimizing the impact of the damage caused in the Durban harbour.

On the day, two damaged shipping containers that had fallen into the harbour waters were secured and retrieved as soon as available resources had been successfully deployed on the five storm affected vessels.

Containment measures were implemented as soon as it was discovered that at least one of the fallen containers had held bags of plastic pellets. A while later, several bags were retrieved within the port waters and a clean-up operation was implemented by the Port Pollution Control department.

Later, sounding surveys were conducted by TNPA’s Dredging Services division supported by divers and drones, and which found no further obstructions or obstacles on the seabed within the port limits The port was declared safe for navigation on 13 October.

The port authority’s ongoing clean-up operations within port limits had also been targeting a significant inflow of waste that had discharged into the port from Umbilo, Amanzimnyama and Umhlatuzana Rivers, as well as the municipal stormwater system.

However, in the next few days a mixture of high and low density plastic cargo has been found in some parts of the ocean.

SAMSA Chief Operating Officer Sobantu Tilayi said MSC cooperated with the authorities for the clean-up operation which started a week ago, conducted surveillance and assessment of the extent of pollution in Durban harbour and the affected coastal areas.

Later SAMSA also met with the Durban Harbour Master and Pollution Control department, the Department of Environmental Affairs, and KZN Provincial Government, and KZN Wildlife.

From these meetings, Mr Tilayi indicated that SAMSA would undertake the monitoring and oversight role of the process while MSC would consult with the cargo owners for the technical details of the pollutant plastics.

He said area surveys of beaches up to Umhlanga on North Coast and Umkomas on the South Coast beaches was conducted by a service provider accompanied by SAMSA.

Mr Tilayi said: “A team to assess the extent of damage has traveled northwards and south wards. Local municipalities will be kept informed to enable surveillance team to access beaches.”

In the meantime on the direction of SAMSA, Drizit Environmental, was appointed and is leading the clean-up operation. On the weekend of 28 October 2017 strong winds interrupted the operation. However, favorable weather conditions prevailed on the Monday, 30 October 2017, and teams were back at work, cleaning the Durban beaches.

On Monday, Captain Hopewell Mkhize, a Principal Officer in the Durban SAMSA office said the clean up might take a while yet, hopefully with no severe interruptions by windy conditions. According to Capt Mkhize, windy conditions, such as was experienced on Sunday, 29 October 2017 were not useful as the tiny pellets simply blew away along with the sand.

For more comment from Capt Mkhize, click on the video.

Meanwhile, the SAMSA appointed environmental cleanup company, Drizit, has established a central collection point for the nurdles at Durban Ski Boat Club (79 Browns Rd, Point, Durban) where the pellets may be dropped off.

Drizit can be contacted on their 24- hour toll free line 0800 202 202.

End