University Of Cape Town News

It was 1914 when the English explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton set sail on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition aboard a ship called Endurance. It was an ill-fated journey: the ship got trapped in the ice and eventually crushed by pack ice in 1915. It sank to the bottom of Antarctica’s Weddell Sea. (Shackleton and his entire crew survived the ordeal by escaping in smaller boats.)It was difficult to believe that the Endurance might ever be found. The icy Weddell Sea is inhospitable and the wreck lay in more than 3000 metres of water.

This year Sea Harvest celebrated 50 years since its inception and  it launched its new vessel on Quay 6 at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Fred Robertson, the Chairman of Sea Harvest and majority shareholder Brimstone Investment Corporation was present at the vessel christening ceremony and he christened her saying: “We are gathered here to name the Harvest Atlantic Peace, may she reap a bountiful harvest and may the God keep her and her crew safe on her journeys”. The Harvest Atlantic Peace was built in Norway in the world renowned Sterkoder AS yard.

Holland America Line and Marine Conservation Institute announced the recipients of the 2012 Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grants in Marine Environmental History and Historical Marine Ecology. Funded through a partnership between Marine Conservation Institute and Holland America Line, the program supports efforts of promising young scientists and graduate students to study the history of ocean ecology to predict future impacts from human interactions. The information gathered through research studies is essential to help law-makers, regulators, and conservationists set appropriate targets for marine conservation efforts that take into account the sustained health and productivity of the world's oceans. The 2012 Mia J. •    Luis A. •    Alexis M. The grant program is a tribute to Dr.

Hlubi Mzamo, new port manager of the Port of Richards Bay, did not expect to find himself at the helm of the port with the largest cargo volumes in South Africa when, he joined the National Ports Authority (NPA), as marine operations manager in Cape Town, 18 months ago. Mzamo had just settled down with his family in the Mother City, when the NPA, landlord and regulator of South African ports, informed him that he was being promoted to an even more responsible position. From sitting in his office, which overlooks the valuable Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT), he modestly concedes that although the promotion was wholly unexpected, he is encouraged that his continuous hard work as marine operations manager was rewarded so quickly.