Stricken vessel attended to

Video

MOSSEL BAY NEWS AND VIDEO - The SA Amandla tug departed Cape Town on Monday, 7 December, on instruction by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) to assist the immobilised vessel Thompson, drifting 14 nautical miles off Cape Barracouta.

According to African Marine Solutions (AMSOL), the tug towed the vessel to Mossel Bay, where the AMSOL team were doing dive inspections. The vessels arrived in the port of Mossel Bay just after noon on Friday, 11 December.

The SA Amandla is on standby 24/7/365 to respond to marine emergencies along the South African coast. Cape Barracouta is south-west of Groot-Jongensfontein, which is 10km from Stilbaai.

The Thompson is a an AHTSV (Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel), used to supply and support the offshore oil and gas exploration and production industry. Some of them work out of Mossel Bay, servicing the PetroSA offshore installations. The Thompson had been working in the West African offshore industry for a while, and is now relocating to the east.

The tug got a tyre fender and chain in her propeller while she was steaming, and was not able to proceed on her voyage as the propeller could not be used. AMSOL put a collaborative effort in place to avoid any risk of loss of life or pollution threat to the South African coast in mobilising the salvage tug SA Amandla from Cape Town, which is on contract to the South African government to provide emergency response to vessels in trouble on the coast.

After having proceeded to the Thompson at full speed, she took her in tow from off Stilbaai into Mossel Bay.

Once in the shelter of Mossel Bay, AMSOL's dive team based in Mossel Bay assisted in removing the tyre and chain from her propeller and the Thompson was able to resume her voyage to the east on Friday afternoon.

Watch a video below: