South Africa launches rescue centre

South Africa launched a new Maritime Rescue Centre to help coordinate its response to shipping disasters and search-and-rescue operations in the region. The move comes as salvage experts continue the battle to save the Capesize bulk carrier Cape Africa that was holed off the country’s west coast in April.

South Africa plays a pivotal role in sea rescue in the busy shipping routes of the southern Atlantic and Indian Ocean and has been tasked by the IMO to set up one of five rescue centres to serve Africa. The centre will coordinate search and rescue operations south of the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola on the Atlantic and from the border between Tanzania and Mozambique on the Indian Ocean down to Antarctica.

Meanwhile, salvage experts this week abandoned plans to repair the Cape Africa, which is anchored two miles off the coastline in False Bay south of Cape Town, due to heavy seas. The South African Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement released on Friday that a ‘specialised vessel’ would be used to remove some 80,000 tonnes of the ship’s iron ore cargo.