Pretoria: 06 August 2024
Salvage work on the grounded Panama-registered general cargo vessel, the MV Ultra Galaxy is expected to progress again this week after yet another bout of a stormy wintry weather that engulfed South Africa’s west coast at the weekend.
Leadership of a salvage team working on the vessel since early July 2024, on Friday cited inciscent poor weather conditions at this time of the year as the biggest challenfe to efforts at off loading the vessel’s cargo – all since lost at sea – as well as its fuel and oils, also some which of spillled out at sea after some storage tanks were breached about a week ago.
The concession came during an onsite national media briefing organised jointly by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the Incident Management Organisation (IMOrg) at the remote location of the beached vessel, some 300km north west of Cape Town.
Represented were various members of the institutions and companies involved inclusive of the salvage and oil spill management companies, vessel insurers, the Deparment of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) and others.
In his welcoming remarks of the national media corps of journalists, SAMSA Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Tau Morwe said the media’s full exposure to the site as well as environmental conditions relevant and impacting the salvage work, was based on an intention to ‘ensure transparency.”
Mr Morwe described the need for complete transparency with the work as essential to ensuring both the media and the general public’s full understanding and appreciation of the conditions under which the grounded vessel’s salvage work was being conducted in the interest of ensuring environmental safety. For his full remarks, click on the video below.
Meanwhile, Smit Salvage South Africa general manager, Mr Richard Robertson described at length the enormous challenges presented by inclement winter weather conditions underwhich the teams were currently confronted by in their efforts to retrieve the vessel’s fuels and oils.
According to Mr Robertson, after managing initially to retrieve about eight (tons) of lubricating oils and low sulphur fuels a week or so ago, days of inclement weather descended on the ocean area, eventually leaving the vessel battered and in the process, breaking into four pieces.
This, he said, led to a breach of some of fuel and oils holding tanks resulting in a spillage that has since soiled the adjacent coastal area and about which a major clean up had since ensued, said Mr Robertson.
It’s not called the Cape of Storms for no reason!
“It is not called the Cape of Storms for no reason,” he said, with an admission that it was daunting task ahead of them to complete the salvage work, after which the wreck would be removed.
However, Mr Robertson expressed gratitude that all relevant parties involved and engaged in the work were fully supporting of cooperative with each other, inclusive of the local community whose +200 member strong team was assisting with the oil spillage clean-up, with support of local authorities.
For his full 14 minutes of the account since the teams started, click on the video below.
More coverage of the media briefing by this blog will follow this article.
This shall include interviews with the vessel insurer’s representative and Managing Director of 2Oceans P&I Correspondents, Mr Michael Heads, Salvage Master at Smit Salvage South Africa, Mr Rudolph Pint, SAMSA Chief Operations Officer, Mr Sobantu Tilayi and Mr Siboniso Ngema, Commercial and Human Resources director at SpillTech.
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