RMS St Helena
forced to abort
scheduled trip
THE CCAL ship Thorsriver ro-ro is to deviate to the Atlantic island of St Helena on her current voyage from Cape Town to Montreal, bringing much needed supplies as well as passengers to the island. Thorsriver was scheduled to sail from Cape Town on November 28.
This follows serious crankshaft problems with the mail boat RMS St Helena while off the coast of France, causing the ship to abort her scheduled trip from Cardiff in Wales to the island. About 90 passengers were on board at the time, as well as much-needed supplies.
RMS St Helena is the island's only contact with the rest of the world. The ship operates a regular cargo and passenger service between Cape Town and St Helena, which is about 2 000 km off the coast of Angola/Namibia.
CCAL's Thorsriver loaded 66 x 6 m containers and six 6m reefers to enable the island to keep going until a replacement ship arrives. Thorsriver also accommodated six passengers who were urgently required on the island.
Repairs to RMS St Helena cannot be completed before 10 February and the vessel managers of St Helena Line, Curnow Shipping Ltd have chartered another vessel, the Elizabeth Boye. This ship sailed from Brest (where RMS St Helena is laid up), having transhipped cargo for the island, and should arrive off St Helena on 13 December. Elizabeth Boye will then sail on to Cape Town to deliver cargo for Tristan da Cunha.
A second vessel, the small cruise ship Iason has been chartered to carry passengers to St Helena and will depart from Malaga on 7 December, arriving at the island on 19 December to enable islanders returning from the UK to be home by Christmas.
By Terry Hutson
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