CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - A salvage team hopes to take advantage of a respite in the stormy weather that has lashed Cape Town's coast to start pumping 500 tons of fuel off a ship that ran aground last week on South Africa's west coast, authorities said on Wednesday.
The Panama-flagged "Ultra Galaxy" floundered close to Doring Bay, some 300 km north of Cape Town, last Tuesday after it started listing badly and taking on water.
The ship was safely abandoned by its 18-strong Filipino crew on July 8 before it drifted towards land. The sailors were rescued by passing vessels who responded to an emergency alert.
"This weather turns at the weekend, and we are hoping to beat the weather window," Sobantu Tilayi, chief operations officer at the South African Maritime Safety Authority, told Reuters.
He said the salvage company, U.S.-based Resolve Marine, were finalising the construction of a platform on the stricken vessel to heat and pump its load of ultra-low sulphur fuel.
"The salvors have put up a salvage plan to remove the fuel...We are hoping that either tomorrow or the next day they are going to start the pumping operation," Tilayi said.
He said the general cargo ship, operated by Ultrabulk and on its way to Tanzania before the emergency, was fortunately fast aground on a sandy beach and not rocky outcrops, which would have hastened its break-up.
"The ship itself remains structurally intact which helps us because what leads to an oil spill is when the ship breaks apart, the tanks get affected and everything starts leaking into the sea," Tilayi said.
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
