AID UP: The Cidade de Paraty, left, with generator problems, was towed into False Bay yesterday. Called a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, it is used in the offshore oil industry. Also pictured is the dead ship Panos Earth.
Environment Writer
ANOTHER vessel in distress, the Cidade de Paraty, has been towed into False Bay for repairs after developing trouble with its generators about 45 miles off the shores of False Bay on Thursday.
A tug from Smit salvors was dispatched to the vessel, but because of the bad weather it didn’t tow the vessel into False Bay until yesterday.
The Cidade de Paraty is now at anchor in the bay.
Dave Colly of the the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) confirmed yesterday that he had given permission for it to anchor in False Bay while undergoing repairs.
Dave Main of Smit salvors said the Cidade de Paraty was not a ship, but rather a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, known in the shipping industry as an “FPSO”.
“It’s basically an offshore platform, a specialised vessel involved in oil work. It had problems with the generator… if it loses all its electricity, it would have a problem… it needs repairs. It only has one emergency generator working,” Main said.
An FPSO is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the processing of hydrocarbons and for storage of oil.
It is designed to receive oil produced from nearby platforms, and process and store the oil until it can be offloaded onto a tanker.
Main was unable to say how long the repairs to the Cidade de Paraty would take.
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