The Japanese fishing vessel, the Eihatsu Maru, was successfully pulled off Clifton’s First Beach on Friday, almost a week to the day it ran aground, and was towed to Cape Town Harbour.
After two failed attempts, salvagers managed to pull the ship off the beach using a stronger cable and the enormous strength of a 27 000 hp tug. A specially fabricated bracket was welded onto the long liner that could withstand the required pull force.
The fishing vessel was tracked along the South African coast prior to the incident and some are questioning whether the incident could have been a deliberate act.
Industry experts are now questioning how the grounding could have occurred given the ship’s navigational equipment and engine are in working order.
Ships like this trawler operate in deep sea conditions and know exactly where they are at any given moment. The speculation that fog played a role in this incident has been discounted as the trawler has enough hi-tech marine electronics on board to know its exact position within five metres.
Radar, standard equipment, would have displayed the coastline, terra firma’, very clearly on its screen, and even raised a warning. This advances the possibility that the grounding could have been “purposeful” so as to fraudulently secure an insurance payout.
An investigation is to follow.