The South African South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) has issued a directive to Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to conduct an assessment of the scale of pollution following the loss of cargo from one of its containers into the water in Durban Harbour during the torrential storm earlier this month.
In the last few days a mixture of high and low density plastic cargo has been found in some parts of the ocean – in all likelihood from a damaged shipping container that fell into the water during the storm.
Samsa’s chief operating officer Sobantu Tilayi said MSC had cooperated with the authorities for the clean-up operation which started this week. Samsa conducted surveillance and assessed the extent of the pollution in Durban harbour and the affected coastal areas.
“Samsa will undertake the monitoring and oversight role of the process. MSC will consult with the cargo owners for the technical details of the pollutant plastic,” Tilayi said.
He said area survey of beaches up to Umhlanga on the North Coast and Umkomaas on the South Coast had been conducted by a service provider accompanied by Samsa. Minuscule presence of plastic pellets had been observed at the high water mark only, he said. “An aggressive cleaning approach with a defined search pattern has been agreed upon by the joint response team as a way forward.”
The container that was suspected to have been carrying the plastic cargo was severely damaged (twisted and squashed) and it had spilled into the harbour. A second container carrying a cargo of Energy drinks was retrieved on October 13 and it was still intact.
Tilayi said: “A team to assess the extent of damage has travelled northwards and southwards today. Local municipalities will be kept informed to enable surveillance teams to access beaches.”
On the direction of Samsa, Drizit Environmental is leading the clean-up operation. Drizit has a central collection point at Durban Ski Boat Club (79 Browns Rd, Point, Durban) where these plastic pellets may be dropped off. They can be contacted on their 24-hour toll free line 0800 202 202.
