Stranded bulk carrier's cargo to be removed

The bulk carrier Kiperousa was still stranded on the coast near East London on Tuesday, three weeks to the day after running aground.

Repeated attempts to re-float the vessel have failed.

SA Maritime Authority (Samsa) spokesperson Peter Kroon said the latest effort on Friday to pull the vessel was unsuccessful.

He attributed this to the good weather.

Most of the attempts to re-float the ship have been planned around spring tide when the waves were at their most tumultuous.

"Salvors don't like good weather. They want swells and waves," he said, adding that calm weather was no good in a rescue attempt of this nature.

He said Friday's attempt had been abandoned and the salvors would now start removing the ship's 8 000-log cargo to make her lighter.

"We will possibly try pull her off within the next week or two," Kroon said.

The Kiperousa - a 14 921-ton log-carrier - ran aground on a reef off Bhenga, south of Hamburg, in the Eastern Cape, three weeks ago while en route from Gabon to Durban to take on fuel oil.

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