Posted on March 5, 2020
The fine line between a rescue tow and a salvage is often one for negotiations, here are six recent examples of towage assistance to disabled vessels, large and small.
South Africa was the first country to operate large state-sponsored rescue tugs or Emergency Towing Vessels as they are now known, the legendary deepsea salvage tug S.A Amandla currently guarding the country’s coastline.
Towards the end of 2019 it was busy providing safety standby services to the immobilised bulk carrier Roberto Rizzo in Algoa Bay, the vessel subsequently towed away for repairs by a third-party tug. Earlier, the general cargo vessel Denny Z experienced technical problems reportedly at risk of drifting ashore between Durban and Richards Bay. As S.A. Amandla was some distance away the Smit-owned, AMSOL-operated tug Smit Siyanda was tasked to standby the vessel until it passed out of South African waters.
DISABLED TANKER
S.A. Amandla was shortly after tasked to the disabled tanker Sea Frost around 60 miles north west of Cape Town. Arriving later the same day S.A. Amandla established a towing connection and delivered the vessel to Cape Town two days later.
When the laden bulk carrier Chris GR was immobilised due to main engine problems off Cape Bojeador, Philippines close to the area of tropical cyclone Kammun professional towing assistance was obviously required. Tsavliris Salvage was contracted, and the Asian Marine-owned salvage tug Salvage Champion was mobilised from Kaohsiung arriving on scene two days later. Another Asian Marine tug Salvage Worker was also tasked and following a tow in inclement weather conditions Chris GR arrived in Hong Kong nine days after the initial call.
Some weeks earlier, Salvage Champion was involved in another tow, involving an abandoned cargo vessel in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan English News reports that the 7,000t cargo vessel Ji Shun contacted the National Search and Rescue Command Centre stating the crew were preparing to abandon ship in rough seas after it appeared to be sinking, around 50nm northwest of Cape Fugui.
Helicopters and Coast Guard vessels were sent to the area and two of Ji Shun’s crew were airlifted to safety by a Black Hawk helicopter but further airlifts were abandoned due to bad weather with the rest of the 13-man crew subsequently rescued by a Super Puma helicopter.
The ship’s master had left the vessel’s engine running and it continued to sail on unmanned, shadowed by a Coast Guard vessel before finally running out of fuel two days later. The vessel’s owners arranged for Salvage Champion to sail from Port of Taichung and it arrived at the scene to find the stricken vessel listing heavily to starboard.
Salvage Champion’s crew were able to board the Ji Shun and establish a towing connection for the tow to Port of Kaohsiung.
ROTORTUGS TO THE RESCUE
MJ has reported previously about Kotug establishing a presence in Mozambique, deploying the Rotortugs RT Spirit and RT Magic. Late in January both were called into action when the container ship Em Oinousses (built as P&O Nedlloyd Accra) en-route from Maputo to Mombasa broadcast a Mayday distress message reporting an engine room fire.
Em Oinousses’s crew managed to extinguish the fire but the vessel was left disabled, requiring towage assistance. Kotug’s two Rotortugs were soon on scene and after making a quick connection towed the vessel to Port of Nacala.
Returning to European waters, the Ports of Jersey Ltd’s Shoalbuster Duke of Normandy was able to provide valuable assistance recently when a cargo vessel, reported as Valiant encountered steering problems while on passage from Poole to the Channel Islands. A towline was connected to the vessel and with assistance from a local pilot boat and workboat was towed safely into Guernsey.
Finally, not all rescue tows involve large commercial vessels, but it was a professional commercial towage provider who was on hand when a 41m sailing yacht lost power following a fouled propeller off Bournemouth Pier on the UK south coast.
Poole-based Jenkins Marine was contacted by the vessel and as calm conditions precluded the yacht sailing to a haven, the twin-screw, 10tbp tug Polmear was assigned to the task of assisting the yacht which was towed to Ocean Village in Southampton. Whether it is the largest or smallest members of the maritime community these typical acts of towage assistance reinforce the importance of suitably equipped towage service provision.
Source: maritimejournal.com
