Join our crew and become one of the 104,617 members that receive our newsletter.

Tug Towing Iceberg

The Guy Who Raised the Costa Concordia Wants to Wrangle Icebergs to Help Cape Town’s Water Crisis

Reuters
Total Views: 171
April 30, 2018

in the North Atlantic off the Newfoundland and Labrador coast. Photo: Wayne Power/JD Irving Ltd.

reuters logoBy Tanisha Heiberg JOHANNESBURG, April 30 (Reuters) – Marine salvage experts are floating a plan to tug icebergs from Antarctica to South Africa’s drought-hit Cape Town to help solve the region’s worst water shortage in a century.

Salvage master Nick Sloane told Reuters he was looking for government and private investors for a scheme to guide huge chunks of ice across the ocean, chop them into a slury and melt them down into millions of liters of drinking water.

“We want to show that if there is no other source to solve the water crisis, we have another idea no one else has thought of yet,” said Sloane, who led the refloating of the capsized Italian passenger liner Costa Concordia in 2014.

South Africa has declared a national disaster over the drought that hit its southern and western regions after 2015 and 2016 turned into two of the driest years on record.

Tough water restrictions are already in place and Cape Town authorities have warned that taps could run dry altogether as soon as next year if winter rains do not come to the rescue of the port city’s 4 million residents.

Cape Town-based Sloane said his team could wrap passing icebergs in fabric skirts to protect them and reduce evaporation. Large tankers could then guide the blocks into the Benguela Current that flows along the west coast of southern Africa.

A milling machine would then cut into the ice, producing a slurry and forming a saucer structure that will speed up the natural process, he said.

A single iceberg “could produce about 150 million liters per day for about a year,” around 30 percent of the city’s needs, said Sloane, a director at the U.S. marine salvage firm Resolve Marine.

He said he was planning to hold a conference later this month to try and sell the $130 million project to city officials and investors. The city council was not immediately available for comment. (Editing by Ed Stoddard and Andrew Heavens)

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2018.

Tags:

Unlock Exclusive Insights Today!

Join the gCaptain Club for curated content, insider opinions, and vibrant community discussions.

Sign Up
Back to Main
polygon icon polygon icon

Why Join the gCaptain Club?

Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.

Sign Up
close

JOIN OUR CREW

Maritime and offshore news trusted by our 104,617 members delivered daily straight to your inbox.

Join Our Crew

Join the 104,617 members that receive our newsletter.