The Problems of Operating Mammoth Tankers on the Cape Sea Route

Abstract

The Cape Sea Route has become a major link in the flow of oil from the Middle East to the Western world. This means that an ever growing number of large and mammoth tankers can be encountered off the sea board of the Republic of South Africa. The presence of these ships pose the continual threat of pollution by marine disaster or grounding. A number of near disasters in the way of groundings has already taken place as well as a large collision and, as a result of this, South Africa scrapped her separation zones which had recently been introduced and introduced a 12 mile limit for tankers. This has brought other problems, such as load line difficulties, freak wave and weather damage, and navigational problems. Spin-off problems encountered in the proliferation of these large ships are: difficulties in finding ports of refuge for deep drafted ships, docking and repair facilities and salvage equipment. South Africa is systematically overcoming these problems one-by-one and is introducing new tugs and antipollution measures together with extensive off-shore servicing.