MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Oil tanker aground in Stanley harbour.
The grounding of a tanker in high winds caused a seven hour drama today in the Falklands on Tuesday.
Around eight in the morning, the Panamanian registered tanker, Centaurus, operated by the Lavinia Corporation of Greece and carrying a cargo of some 2000 tonnes of diesel oil for Stanley, touched bottom, while attempting to dock at the Falklands Interim Port and Storage Facility (FIPASS). The ship became fast some 200 yards to the East of the floating dock.
The accident happened at low tide and the sea bed at the point of contact was described by Harbour Master, Jon Clarke, as "relatively soft". However, this good fortune was threatened by the distinct possibility that as the tide rose, the ship, estimated at between 5000 and 6000 gross tonnes, would be driven further inshore by gale force winds from the North. High tide was expected at around 2.30pm
During the late morning, the local inter-island cargo vessel, MV Tamar FI took a tow line from the Centaurus in order to prevent the situation worsening, while discussions took place about the next move.
In the Falklands with its small population, there is often a shortage of people with specific skills and so a degree of multi-tasking is normal. In this case, master mariner Ian Wilkinson, manager of Island Shipping Ltd., the company that operates the MV Tamar, was also the local pilot aboard the Centaurus at the time it grounded. As negotiations regarding salvage operations began between the captain of Centaurus and the captain of MV Tamar FI. Ian Wilkinson found himself in a position which he described as "somewhat invidious.
" Just before noon, with no let up in the force of the wind, listeners to inter-ship communications heard Captain McNeill of MV Tamar urge the captain of Centaurus to agree to accept Lloyd's Open Form as a preliminary to a salvage attempt being made. Ian Wilkinson also urged acceptance, saying that the ship was beginning to ?bump' and that he feared that unless prompt action was taken, it would later be impossible to get the ship off and she could become a "total constructive loss".
Lloyd's Open Form or LOF as it is more commonly referred to, is Lloyd's of London's standard form of salvage agreement and has its origins in the late 1800's. Over the course of time it has developed into the most widely used international salvage agreement of its kind in the world today, but its acceptance by a vessel in trouble sets in train an arbitration procedure, which is invariably lengthy and expensive and therefore one which most vessel owners would rather avoid.
Eventually, after messages had been exchanged through the local agents for Centaurus to Greece and from Greece to Lavinia Corporation's lawyers in London, the salvage operation began at around 12.20 pm. By 12.23 pm, assisted by two harbour patrol launches acting as tugs, MV Tamar FI had succeeded in pulling the tanker's bow away from the shore and somewhat into the wind. At this point, just after Ian Wilkinson had reported "We seem to be unstuck now" a windlass problem on MV Tamar FI intervened and by 12.30 the status quo was resumed, with Centaurus once more lying broadside on to the wind and pointing towards the shore.
In the hope of a slight reduction of wind strength later in the afternoon, no further attempt to pull the tanker free was made until 2.10 pm. At this point MV Tamar and the two harbour patrol launches, which had maintained station throughout, were joined by two other vessels: the Falkland Islands Company launch Speedwell and the long-retired harbour workhorse, Lively. With launches and Lively pushing from the leeward side and MV Tamar pulling, by 2.20 pm Centaurus was heading into wind and declared "fully afloat" by her relieved pilot.
Clearly had appropriate action not been taken to avoid damage to the ship, there could have been a risk of oil pollution in Stanley harbour. Asked about what might have happened, if the ship owners had not accepted the salvage terms, Harbour Master, Jon Clarke, informed Mercopress that the Falkland Islands Government were currently reviewing their powers to intervene in such a situation. He believed that the Islands' Governor had such powers at his discretion at present, but that the process by which these powers could not be applied needed to be streamlined. In Britain such powers belonged to the Secretary of State, but could be exercised by his appointed agents in the various coastal regions.
John Fowler (MP) Stanley
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