PANOS EARTH details
Vessel’s Details
Ship Type: Bulk carrier
Year Built: 1984
Length x Breadth: 249 m X 32 m
Gross Tonnage: 41726, DeadWeight: 75864 t
Speed recorded (Max / Average): 5.1 / 5.1 knots
Flag: Panama [PA]
Call Sign: 3FCD4
IMO: 8214695, MMSI: 351829000
Last Position Received
Area:
Latitude / Longitude: -34.212° / 18.51503° (Map)
Currently in Port:
Last Known Port: PANAMA ANCH ATLANTIC
Info Received: 41d 11h 30min ago
Not Currently in Range
Voyage Related Info (Last Received)
Draught: 14 m
Destination: SHANGHAI
ETA: 2012-04-05 18:00
Info Received: 2012-04-02 01:39 (41d, 11h 35min ago)
PANOS EARTH Panama 3FCD4 2012-04-02 01:39
Ship Type: DRY CARGO
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.

FWJ, found your questions interesting, linked your comments to https://www.facebook.com/Up.Close.Tours.

the attempts to pull this trawler have failed so far,its the weight of the trawler,and its position in relation to its position,port\starboard are (boulders-Rocks) centreline astern (Rock Outcrop)visible,the depth high tide doesn’t give the large tug smit amandla enough leeway for a pulling operation,a study of marine chart and marine navigational maths indicates here could be a problem,for this vessel to come into its aground position means I quote it was under rudder steerage control,if it merely drifted in as been quoted,it wouldn’t be in its present position,in my opinion the master of this vessel should be arrested under south African maritime law,for the endangering of his crew,his vessel,the environment,maybe if 2 port tugs could assist with any further salvage ops would help,,they cant pull from the stern in a straight line,they are pulling from an acute angle this means a sideways pull,if they pump out the fuel,the on board cooling systems wont work,you looking at 50 tons of tuna\squid maybe other marine life, how long it stays intact is another concern,because of hull integrity fatigue\stress factors along the entire length of this trawler,the master of this vessel cannot assume he didn’t know where he was,or supposedly approaching table bay port ,he has enough electronics on his bridge to tell him or any other person besides a helmsman exactly where the trawler is,example radar will tell him the depth finders via the hull sensors,this incident needs to be investigated and possibly sealing of all electronics equipment on-board,there is an indication based on the visible array of antennas that this trawler has satcomms\satnav samsa must approach the satcomms operators if known for a complete radio log ,if this vessel was having engine\rudder\steerage related problems he would be aground anywhere between cape point-table bay coastline,he was very close inshore,the longer the towline the more problematic it gets,steel cable stretches,the longer the towline the more prone to snapping\the shorter the towline the less towline stress there is,the large tug cant get in close,you looking at a safety margin of 30meters max for his draught safety clearance,the port tugs you looking at a draught clearance of 20meyeres max,taking into account that the main obstacle here are the rock outcrop dead astern,port\starboard,when they pull they have to take up the slack slowly,it might help if they consider doing a 3 tug split pull,2 port tugs closer in taking up the slack pull,while the larger tug pulls at a steady pace until all 3 tugs have the slack at max pulling power,keeping that amount of pull constant,slacking off,then pull gradually it might just loosen the entire trawler fully aground in the seabed,my concern is what is beneath the seabed,the longer it stays aground the deeper it buries itself into the sandy seabed below,if its hard rock as visible in many photos of the rocks visible around its location,that could be a problem sticking out in the long term,not the short term,the constant wave\tidal current plays an important role here,as this trawler is wallowing port-starboard-continuously,might not be visible to the from a distance,but its likely happening with the current wave\tidal currents,it appears to be more firmly aground from the amidships to its bow and not its full length,low tide photos show clearly its listing,so any salvage tug pulling operations has to deal with its current listing situation which in my opinion is affecting the tug pulling operations,hope they get it off soon,or the clifton residents,city of Capetown is going to have a very serious problem,which is sticking out already