Aft section of Smart sunk in 1000 meters water depth
The aft section of the "Smart" was towed away on Oct 5 and scuttled 28 nautical miles off Richards Bay. The sinking followed a seven-week salvage operation in which the fuel was siphoned out, the ship was stripped of pollutants and movable fittings, and 10 000 tons of coal were dumped overboard.
Another estimated 50 000 tons of coal fell into the sea when the ship broke in two on Aug 19 just 250 m away from Alkant Strand beach with a cargo of almost 150000 tons of coal and about 1 900 tons of fuel. The aft section – was towed out to sea overnight by the salvage tug "Smit Amandla", brought from Cape Town on Oct 2. It was sunk to the south-east of Richards Bay, where the sea is at least 1 000m deep. The salvage operation used Dyneema cable tied to the starboard side. At high tide the swell and wind helped the ship to became buoyant and around 3 p.m. it was able to be towed away. Fair weather conditions had helped the salvage operation.
All ship movement had been stopped from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. to allow the operation to go ahead. The forward part of the ship still remained. The ship had split around the sixth and seventh hatches of the nine-hatch ship.
The salvaging the forward section would be more demanding as it had flooded. The coal inside had turned into slurry. It would have to be pumped out with a submersible pump. Hatch one, two and three were above the water when the ship split; now only one-and-a-half hatches remained above water. Tenders had been invited for this phase and the successful bidder was likely to be named within the next few weeks.
This section has presented a constantly changing scenario, and that means that the scope of work constantly changes, so we keep having to tweak the tender requirements.
The harbour is dredged every year, and it is hoped that the coal on the seabed will be removed then. However, lumps of coal were washing on to the beach.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research had been taking regular water samples and providing interim reports. A final report on the quality of the water was expected soon.
The aft section of the "Smart" was towed away on Oct 5 and scuttled 28 nautical miles off Richards Bay. The sinking followed a seven-week salvage operation in which the fuel was siphoned out, the ship was stripped of pollutants and movable fittings, and 10 000 tons of coal were dumped overboard.
Another estimated 50 000 tons of coal fell into the sea when the ship broke in two on Aug 19 just 250 m away from Alkant Strand beach with a cargo of almost 150000 tons of coal and about 1 900 tons of fuel. The aft section – was towed out to sea overnight by the salvage tug "Smit Amandla", brought from Cape Town on Oct 2. It was sunk to the south-east of Richards Bay, where the sea is at least 1 000m deep. The salvage operation used Dyneema cable tied to the starboard side. At high tide the swell and wind helped the ship to became buoyant and around 3 p.m. it was able to be towed away. Fair weather conditions had helped the salvage operation.
All ship movement had been stopped from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. to allow the operation to go ahead. The forward part of the ship still remained. The ship had split around the sixth and seventh hatches of the nine-hatch ship.
The salvaging the forward section would be more demanding as it had flooded. The coal inside had turned into slurry. It would have to be pumped out with a submersible pump. Hatch one, two and three were above the water when the ship split; now only one-and-a-half hatches remained above water. Tenders had been invited for this phase and the successful bidder was likely to be named within the next few weeks.
This section has presented a constantly changing scenario, and that means that the scope of work constantly changes, so we keep having to tweak the tender requirements.
The harbour is dredged every year, and it is hoped that the coal on the seabed will be removed then. However, lumps of coal were washing on to the beach.
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research had been taking regular water samples and providing interim reports. A final report on the quality of the water was expected soon.