SvitzerWijsmuller Salvage was awarded a Lloyd's Form contract and mobilised a team to refloat the casualty. On arrival off Capo Passero they found the Alican Deval heavily aground and high on a rocky ledge. The vessel had been in ballast when the grounding occurred.

The first priority for the salvage team was the removal of some 100 tons of intermediate fuel oil. Meanwhile, the tug Neftegaz 51 was mobilised as oil removal continued. The casualty's bunkers were successfully removed using a tug/bunker barge combination and equipment despatched from SvitzerWijsmuller's salvage stores in the Netherlands.

Hostile weather made a challenging salvage even more difficult but operations proceeded regardless. Tanks were pressurised to regain buoyancy but the Alican Deval still had a ground reaction calculated at around 1,000 tons.

However, the salvage plan was based on floating the casualty off the rocks rather pulling it off, although contingency plans were in place. These were similar to those executed during the Martina M refloating operation in Tunisia last year, where an innovative pulling system capable of pulling up to 800 tons was used.

Alican Deval is a well maintained, strongly built vessel. The refloating was based on edging it clear of the rocks and into deeper water.

Whenever a favourable tide and sea state prevailed, Neftegaz 51 took up the tension and used the lift from the long rollers to move the casualty towards freedom, centimetres at a time. The tug concentrated on pulling the lighter bow section clear first.

This was then ballasted, inducing leverage on the heavier stern and allowing the team to make faster progress. Alican Deval finally floated free more than three weeks after grounding and was towed to Syracuse for redelivery.

MJ Information No: 21726