Vessel with reactive chemical cargo finally cleared of its load, while a brobe continues into the cause: SAMSA

Pretoria: 05 April 2022

It may not be until after another 12 months before authorities get to know the real cause of the problematic chemical cargo South Africa has had to grapple with daily since arrival of the Marshall Islands registered cargo vessel bearing it, the NS Qingdao, initially in Durban, some six months ago.

Crucially though, according to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) in a statement in Pretoria last Thursday, ridding the vessel of the reactive chemical cargo has finally, successfuly been achieved and disposed of.

In the statement announcing the important milestone, SAMSA said: “The NS Qingdao has now completed the discharge of waste chemical cargo from hold No. 3 in Saldanha Bay, which brings to an end a salvage operation that started in October 2021.

“Waste cargo from the vessel’s hold No.3 was discharged in almost 1,000 skips and was responsibly disposed of at Vissershok High Hazardous Waste Management Site. Potentially contaminated ballast water pumped into ISO tanks was disposed of at the same site. During the discharge operation in the port of Saldanha Bay, no cargo residue entered the water,” said SAMSA.

Authorities also continued to keep a watchful eye in the surrounding ocean areas, without evidence to date that marine life and the environment were affected, said SAMSA.

“To date no threats to the marine life or environment related to the emergency disposal of cargo approximately 250 km offshore have been noted. Environmental Monitoring in accordance with the agreed EMP by the P&I Club’s appointed environmental specialists, in collaboration with DFFE, which includes amongst others satellite imaging of the area will continue,” said SAMSA

The agency further confirmed that an investigation into the cause of the chemical cargo’s instability and related matters would continue, involving a collaborative approach between vessel’s flag state, Marshall Islands and South African authorities, with the vessel remaining in detention pending proof of its seaworthiness.

Said SAMSA: “The vessel remains detained, subject to further inspections and repairs as required and will not be put to sea unless her seaworthiness can be confirmed. The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the Department of Forestry Fisheries and the Environment (DEFF) have reached agreement with the vessel’s owners and P&I Club to implement a medium to long term environmental monitoring program (EMP). The program will deal not only with any immediate impact but also monitor and mitigate any future impacts.

“The vessel’s Marshall Islands Flag State appointed Investigation Team is still investigating the root cause, with SAMSA sharing any available information. A final report which will be shared with SAMSA is expected to take approximately 12 months to complete.

“Again, SAMSA wishes to thank local and international members of a multi-disciplinary team who contributed to the containing and bringing of this emergency situation under control. The vessel owner should also be thanked for their continued cooperation with South African Authorities.”

End

Salvage of vessel with unstable chemical cargo off South Africa’s west coast reaches final stage: SAMSA

Pretoria: 28 January 2022

The salvage of a vessel with unstable chemical cargo, the bulk carrier NS Qingdao; off South Africa’s west coast, is reaching a critical final stage, according to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA)

This is contained in a statement issued by SAMSA in Pretora on Friday morning. In the statement the agency says the volatility of the chemical cargo – inclusive of an out of control fire in a cargo hold – is being successfully contained so far, this following the off-loading and dumping of some of the cargo at sea recently.

As a result, the 190×32 meters, Marshall Islands flagged bulk carrier is being brought into the port of Saldanha Bay for further offloading and final disposal of the rest of the cargo at an inland hazardous waste management site located at Visserhok.

According to a Western Cape government website, the site is “one of three operational (Cape Town) landfill sites… located close to Table View and exists for the disposal of general and low to medium hazardous waste which cannot be reused or recycled.”

In Pretoria on Friday, SAMSA said due to this latest development, “the emergency (of the cargo vessel situation) has now been downscaled from a ‘severe maritime emergency’ to a salvage operation that can be safely managed in port.”

According to SAMSA, the bulk carrier, is drifting currently off the port of Saldanha Bay, waiting for a berth.

Said SAMSA in the statement: “The bulk carrier, NS Qingdao, will be brought into the port of Saldanha Bay after the chemical decomposition and fire in cargo hold No.3 was brought under control. The emergency has now been downscaled from a Severe Maritime Emergency to a salvage operation that can be safely managed in port. The vessel is drifting off the port of Saldanha Bay, waiting for a berth.

“This decision was taken by the competent authorities after DFFE and SAMSA representatives conducted a vessel inspection offshore to determine whether it was safe to do so and reviewing reports from the chemical and fire specialists onboard.

“Transnet National Port Authority will provide a berth for the vessel and is comfortable that it safe for the vessel to enter the port.”

“The Joint Operations Committee (JOC) comprises of National, Provincial government officials and includes local municipal representatives. The JOC members have been actively involved in managing this maritime emergency since the vessel was evacuated from the port of Durban.

“Salvage experts have been working around the clock to contain and extinguish the fire onboard the vessel for the past three (3) months. Attempts to extinguish the fire by discharging the reactive cargo via skips offshore and dispose of the cargo at the High Hazardous Vissershok waste management site was hampered by the location of the affected cargo within the cargo hold.

“The vessel was escorted offshore by an Emergency Towing Vessel in early December after the fire unexpectedly re-ignited, causing a large volume of toxic fumes to be released and enter the engine room resulting in the evacuation of the engine room.

“Due to the fast deteriorating conditions onboard and to save the ship and people onboard, the JOC decided to conduct an emergency dump of the absolute bare minimum of reactive cargo 250km offshore in 3000m of water in order to bring the situation under control as fast as possible.

“The DFFE issued an emergency permit as prescribed by Chapter 8, Section 71 (1) (a), of the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act, 2008 (Act No. 24 of 2008) and the Dumping at Sea Regulations, after consulting with the Oceans and Coasts research branch, Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) and International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

“GESAMP is a group of independent scientific experts that provides advice to the UN system on scientific aspects of marine environmental protection and consists out of up to 20 experts, over 500 scientists from at least 50 countries. This organisation provides authoritative, independent, interdisciplinary scientific advice to organisations and governments to support the protection and sustainable use of the marine environment.

“The GESAMP mechanism functions under the auspices of ten UN Organizations, all with substantial maritime and ocean interests and potentially overlapping responsibilities.

“Approximately 1300T of cargo was dumped offshore which enabled the situation to be brought back under control. The JOC can confirm that the operation was monitored through onboard drones and DFFE satellite imaging and can confirm that no immediate environmental damage was observed.

“The hot cargo cooled rapidly and dissolved very quickly in the ocean. Although no immediate environmental damage was noticed, SAMSA and the DFFE are in discussions with the vessel owner and insurers to arrange a medium to long term environmental monitoring program so that any potential future outfall can be managed responsibly as fast as possible.

“The vessel was anchored off St. Helena Bay for the last two (2) weeks to allow the authorities to monitor the cargo and establish whether it was safe to enter port.

“The affected portion of the chemical cargo will be discharged in port by the Salvors and chemical waste specialists. The chemical waste will be taken to the approved High Hazardous Waste Management site at Vissershok until such time that it is safe for stevedores to manage the cargo discharge operation.

“As an interested state, SAMSA concluded an investigation cooperation agreement with the Marshall Islands Maritime Authorities. The cause of the incident is still under investigation and a chemical analysis of the cargo will be completed while the vessel is in port to determine the underlying casual factors for the fire and whether the vessel had any undeclared cargo in the hold.

“The vessel owner, master and P&I Club is cooperating with the Authorities, ” read the SAMSA statement.

End.

Specialist equipment procured from Europe to evacuate unstable chemical cargo off vessel at St Helena Bay: SAMSA

02 December 2021

The procurement and arrival in South Africa next week of an Inert Gas System and a specialist excavator operator from Europe is expected to relieve pressure and provide enhanced safety to management efforts of transferring an unstable chemical cargo off a constrained vessel currently docked in St Helena Bay.

That is according to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) in a statement in Pretoria on Thursday confirming the docking yet again of the Marshall Island flagged bulk carrier, NS Qingdao, back at St Helena Bay on Tuesday, after days spent off shore due to its unstable chemical cargo.

The saga with the vessel, according to SAMSA, began on 23 October 2021 in Durban where it had docked to offload its chemical cargo, but had to be sent back offshore and rerouted to St Helena Bay after her cargo suffered a chemical reaction, releasing toxic fumes into the atmosphere.

According to SAMSA, redirecting the bulk carrier, now under constant escort, to St Helena Bay on the country’s west coast (Atlantic Ocean) was intended to provide it with protected anchorage, “with the advantage of being in close proximity to the Vissershok waste deposal site where the cargo could be safely discharged and neutralised.”

However, with stormy, wet weather unrelenting, said SAMSA: “Last week (25 Novembe)r the vessel was instructed to sail offshore (again) under tow to help ventilate her No3 cargo holds after the hold was closed due to a change in weather conditions causing an increase in hot spots in the hold and fumes to enter the engine room through the engine room vents.”

In the meantime, said SAMSA that all non-essential personnel were removed as a safety precaution, with only a minimum crew onboard. In the intervening period, plans were made to procure a special Inert Gas System and a specialist excavator operator from Europe. SAMSA said the Inert Gas system would be used to blanket the cargo with an inert gas to prevent any further reactions in the cargo.

However, the discovery of and an announcement in South Africa about a new Covid-19 variant, Omnicron, which almost immediately sent several countries abroad in a tailspin of panic, followed by the closure of borders and bans on international flights to the country, “delayed operations slightly,” said SAMSA, adding that the salvage crew was, however, “optimistic” that the Inert Gas System would arrive in St Helena Bay by Tuesday next week (07 December 2021).

*A MarineInsight.com illustration of an inert gas system plant.*

MarineInsight.com contextualises the use of an inert gas system as follows: “Inert gas system is the most important integrated system for oil tankers for safe operation of the ship. Inert gas is the gas that contains insufficient oxygen (normally less than 8 %) to suppress the combustion of flammable hydrocarbon gases. The inert gas system spreads the inert gas over the oil cargo hydrocarbon mixture which increases the lower explosion limit LEL (lower concentration at which the vapours can be ignited), simultaneously decreasing the Higher explosion limit HEL (Higher concentration at which vapour explodes).

“When the concentration reaches around 10%, an atmosphere is created inside the tank in which hydrocarbon vapours cannot burn. The concentration of inert gas is kept around 5% as a safety limit.”

Meanwhile, in Pretoria on Thursday, SAMSA further reiterated its earlier assurance that the toxic fumes emitted from the vessel do not pose any danger either to humans or the oceans and coastline environment. Providing specific detail of the bulk carrier’s water sensitive and reactive chemical cargo, SAMSA said: “SAMSA would like to assure the public that this is a controlled event and neither the environment nor any person is at risk at this time and that all safety precautions are taken to prevent the situation from escalating.

Of the cargo’s nature, the agency said: “The bulk cargo consists out of a mixture of Sodium Metabisulphite, Magnesium Nitrate Hexahydrate ,Caustic Calcined Magnesite, Electrode Paste, Monoammonium Phosphate, Ferrous Sulphate Monohydrate, Zinc Sulphate Monohydrate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Sodium Sulphite Anhydrous and Calcium Chloride.”

With the recall of the vessel to dock at St Helena Bay on Tuesday, said SAMSA: “The cargo is being discharged into skips to remove all hot spots in the cargo hold to help neutralise the chemical reaction and gases under the watchful eyes of experienced salvors and chemical experts.

“The first two skips were discharged yesterday morning in the care of SPILLTECH for transportation to Vissershok under controlled conditions. SAMSA would like to reaffirm that there is no immediate risk to any person ashore and that all persons involved in the operation onboard is using all the required personnel protective equipment.”

However, just to be sure, extra measures undertaken since the rerouting of the vessel from Durban to St Helena Bay have included the constant watchful eye of a tug UMKHUSELI that, according to SAMSA “will remain on site to act as a static tow while the vessel is at anchor and ensure that any toxic gases are blown offshore during the operation.

“The ship owner is cooperating with SAMSA, DFFE, TNPA, Salvage Team and local authorities.SAMSA would like to assure the public that this is a controlled event and neither the environment nor any person is at risk at this time and that all safety precautions are taken to prevent the situation from escalating,” said the agency.

End.