Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-06-10)

Allthiswillbedoneamidhighwavesand

windsreaching 80 mph.“It’stheworstpartof

theoceanworldwide,”Sloanesays.“People

don’tgothereunlesstheyhaveto.”Withthe

netinplace,theicebergwillbeattachedto

twosupertankersata distanceofabouta

mile.Thetankers,whichwillremainabout

1,000feet from oneanother, will moveat

about 1 mph.Becausethey’llhavelittleabil-

itytosteeratsuchlowspeeds,eachtanker

willbeledbytugboat.Theoperationwillneed

tobeinsuredbyLloyd’sofLondonin casethe

icebergbreaksapartenroute,leavingdanger-

ousdebrisinthepathofotherships.

ThegoalwillbetofollowtheAntarctic

CircumpolarCurrenteastwardandthen,at

therightmomentnearGoughIsland,deploy

fullforcetoswitchovertotheBenguela

Current,whichwillbringtheicebergupward

towardSouthAfrica’swesterncoast.“Ifwe

hitthewrongcurrent,that’sit,”Sloanesays.

“Thenwe’llhavetocalluptheAussiesand

say,‘Doyouwanttobuyaniceberg?’”

Traveling“slowerthantheslowestthingon

Earth,”asSloaneputsit,thejourneywilltake

anestimated 80 to 90 days.Theanticipated

meltrateisabout0.05metersto0.1meters

perdayfromeachsideandthebase,which

wouldresultin a reductionin sizeofabout8%

byarrival—butcertainfactors,mostnotably

storms,couldincreaseerosionatthewater

line.Thefinaldestinationwillbenorthwestof

CapeTown,wheretheicebergwillrunaground

and sit amid the fairlycold, slow-moving

BenguelaCurrent,about 25 milesfromland.

There,Sloane’steamwillholdthebergin place

witha 1,000-tonmooringsystem,and,likethe

FrenchartistChristo,wraptheentireunderwa-

terportionina giant,800-tongeotextileskirt

designedtoreducewaveimpactandinhibit

furthermelting.Theskirt,expectedtocost

roughly$22million,willletfreshwaterpass

through,creatinga bufferofcoldwater,while

keepingsaltwaterout.Astheiceberggets

smaller,it willbemovedclosertoshore.

Toharvestthewater,theteamwillship

earthmoving equipment, including grad-

ingandmillingmachines,totheicebergvia

barge.Themachineswillbeusedtoexca-

vatea shallowsaucer,whichwillhelpspeed

melttoanywherefrom 60 millionto 150 million

litersa dayofanicyslurry.Theslushwillbe

pumpedintoa rotatingfleetofgrocery-grade

containerships.

Backonland,theslurrywillbefedintoa

temporarypipesystemandmixedwithwater

frommunicipalreservoirs.Sloanebelieves

theicebergcouldsupplyCapeTownfora

yearbeforeit becomesunstableandbreaks

apart.This,hesays,willlikelyhappenonce

thebergis reducedtoabout30%ofitsorig-

inalsize—thoughit’simpossibletoknowfor

sure.“Nobody’striedthis,sotherearegoing

tobeunexpecteddiscoveries,”hesays.

Before even attempting the tow, the

teamwillneeda fewmonthstoperforma

reducedenvironmentalassessmentforthe

government—reduced because Cape Town is

still in crisis. One problem may be the effect

of parking a giant ice cube off Africa’s coast.

“We have no idea what such a thing would

do to all the atmospheric, oceanic ecosystem

dynamics in the area,” says Marcello Vichi, a

professor of oceanography at the University

of Cape Town who’s collaborating with

Sloane’s team but has some reservations.

“We’d need to do a lot more research, but

that’s where money comes in, and time.” Alan

Condron, who works at the Massachusetts-

based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

and joined the project in May, will begin mod-

eling impacts within the next months. He also

plans to model melt rates and various tow-

ing routes, as well as the carbon footprint of

hauling icebergs vs. desalination. But there’s

a limit to what these projections can achieve,

he says. “At some point, you can throw all

the modeling you have at it, but you just need

someone to go out and do it.”

The price of delivering Antarctic water will

be perhaps the biggest obstacle—Sloane

says it would cost Cape Town about three

times what it now pays for delivery of sur-

face water. Critics within the Cape Town gov-

ernment say it would cost substantially more.

“This proposal was not considered suitable

for Cape Town,” says Xanthea Limberg, a

member of the mayoral committee for water

and waste services. “Such a project is both

complex and risky with an anticipated very

high water cost. The greatest challenges per-

tained to containment and transportation of

the melt water as well as its injection into the

water supply system.”

Other officials say the world’s worsening

water crisis, along with South Africa’s boom-

ing population and the local impact of climate

change, require looking beyond traditional

Bloomberg Businessweek | Sooner Than You Think June 10, 2019

A Brief History of

Towing Ice

1949

John Isaacs of the

Scripps Institution of

Oceanography suggests

towing icebergs to

California.

1960-Present

Oil companies redirect

bergs to keep them

from crashing into rigs.

1977

Prince Mohammed

al-Faisal sponsors

an international

conference on iceberg

use in Iowa.

2010

Karl Lagerfeld features

a berg in his Chanel

runway show.

2019

Thieves steal 8,000

gallons of meltwater

from Newfoundland

company Iceberg

Vodka.

70