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Big Bisso Lift Re-Opens Mississippi
01 Apr 2004
America’s Bisso Marine has lifted the sunken OSV Lee III from the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi River, which it was completely blocking following a pre-dawn collision in the middle of one of the world’s busiest deep draft waterways.
Bisso Marine divers found the stern of the extremely damaged vessel on the river bottom while the bow remained afloat on a bubble of air. In an effort to temporarily open the waterway to one-way traffic, preparations were made to lift the stern and float the vessel out of the channel. However, due to the severe damage to Lee III, the original salvage plan to right, raise and refloat the vessel was abandoned. A new salvage plan was formulated to lift the 800 tonne vessel while inverted and to place it onto a barge.
This plan offered the safest and quickest option for recovering the Lee III intact.
Bisso Marine used the 700 tonne capacity D/B Cappy Bisso and the 600 tonne capacity D/B Lili Bisso to lift the wreck. The D/B Boaz served as the principle diving and rigging support platform as well as the command centre for the US Coast Guard, US Navy SUPSALV, and US Army Corps of Engineers.
The successful lift operation took 156 hours to complete.
MJ Information No: 19330
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