Pirates could delay Durban dredging operations

Completion of the entrance channel widening and deepening at the port of Durban may be delayed as a result of Somali pirates having seized the Belgian dredging vessel Pompei which was on its way to Durban. Pompei, a dredging stone carrier – to give the vessel a more accurate description – was en route to Durban from the Middle East when pirates boarded the vessel and took control. The vessel was 600 nautical miles from the Somali coast and sailing in a designated ‘safe’ zone, but with a slow operating speed of around 9 knots and a low freeboard, Pompei was a sitting duck for pirates in waiting. The ship with a crew of ten was then taken to a coastal anchorage off Somalia where negotiations with the ship’s owner are believed to have commenced. A spokesman for the dredging company in charge of operations at the port of Durban, where the entrance channel is being widened and deepened, refused to comment when approached by a Durban newspaper, but the port manager, Ricky Bhikraj, confirmed that the vessel was engaged to the contractors working on the R4 billion channel project. Pompei is owned by dredging specialist Jan de Nul, who is associated with Dredging International, the overseas firm involved in the Durban contract. The ship is highly sophisticated and makes use of dynamic positioning for the accurate placing of rock protection on underwater berm construction.