Weather conditions vital to ailing ships discharge

Press, 12 August 1986, Page 3

Weather conditions vital to ailing ships discharge

By

BARRY SIMPSON

in Nelson

Officers and crew of the Tongan cargo ship Tasi will be keeping a close eye on the weather in the next couple of days. The vessel, safely anchored in Squally Bay in Croisilles Harbour, 40km north-east of Nelson after a slow emergency trip when cargo shifted and listed the vessel heavily to port, is well sheltered from the south-easterly winds with which she had to battle on Friday and Saturday. However, the harbour is open to the north and north-west winds, and experienced mariners tell of 5m swells sweeping in from Tasman Bay. Captain Steve Ponsford, principal surveyor of ships, and a team of Ministry of Transport marine surveyors have paid two visits to the vessel. Should winds turn to

the north the vessel could be shifted as much as five nautical miles further into Squally Bay, said Captain Ponsford.

The vessel and her load of 1200 tonnes of bagged cement still has a list of about 40deg to port and it appears certain she will have to remain at anchor for at least the next few days.

He said the ship at present was not in a seaworthy condition “to go anywhere.” Arrangements had been made for a large barge with a mobile crane to be brought from Havelock and this was expected to be alongside the Tasi by 11 p.m. yesterday. Twelve men will be taken from Nelson to the ship this morning, arriving about 8 a.m. and he expected that, with favourable conditions, some 220 tonnes of cement would be bought ashore in about 12 hours and taken by road to Nelson, said

Captain Ponsford. Because of the ship’s list at present it is not possible to use her own lifting gear, but once the ship is bought to about a lOdeg list her own cranes will be employed and the whole job speeded up. Captain Ponsford said he expected the vessel might be able to sail to Nelson tomorrow or Thursday afternoon at the latest.

While work is proceeding on righting the Tasi, Captain Ponsford will be on his way to the Golden Bay Cement Company Tarakohe plant to get official statements from the stevedore who loaded the vessel and the harbourmaster, Mr Roy Mumford. “Our main function here is to ascertain the reason why she arrived in Cook Strait in the condition she finished up in,” said Captain Ponsford. Once the ship was righted he fully expected

the port engine to run again.

The ship has had auxiliary power throughout, but because of the sharp list the crew has had a most uncomfortable time. Not until Sunday did the crew get a hot meal. “They had been living off damp bread and raw fish sort of thing,” he said.

■.The residents of Okiwi Bay and the Salvation Army had since been ferrying hot meals out to the Ship, said Captain Ponsford.

A Ministry of Transport official who went to the Tasi on Sunday said the crew had managed to shift about 100 bags of cement in the hold. This, he said, was a tremendous task with the ship listing the way it was. “It is difficult enough carrying a bag of cement on a level surface without having to contend with a 40deg angle and a slippery deck,” he said.