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'CP Valour' Removal Completed
01 Oct 2006
A SvitzerWijsmuller Salvage team last month refloated ‘CP Valour’, the container vessel which grounded last December in the Azores. The salvage team succeeded in towing CP Valour away from the grounding site but a violent storm overwhelmed the wreck, which went down in very deep water some 20 miles north west off Faial. There were no casualties. The wreck had been emptied of pollutants and, therefore, presents no environmental hazard.
The wreck removal contract was awarded in late April. SvitzerWijsmuller mobilised equipment and personnel from the Netherlands, the Mediterranean and South Africa. CP Valour was found to be hard aground on sand over volcanic rock. The 1,000 TEU vessel, laden with 525 containers, had suffered severe damage. All tanks were breached and the vessel was in the fully flooded condition. Subsequently, it was declared a constructive total loss.
SvitzerWijsmuller prepared the wreck for refloating by reducing weight. Containers were recovered, loaded onto barges and transported to Lisbon. The main engine and other heavy items in the machinery space were removed.
In addition, the accommodation block was cut away. The salvage fleet deployed included the jack-up ‘MEB-JB-01’, three large North Sea class pontoons and the support tugs ‘Battleaxe’, ‘Ayton Cross’ and ‘Remo’. A shallow draft anchorhandler, ‘Caradog’, was also mobilised, to assist in manoeuvring the barges alongside CP Valour. The lightering phase was followed by dewatering and pressurisation, prior to refloating.
The major challenge throughout the operation was the exposed position of the wreck site at Baia da Rebera das Cabras. The refloating was achieved by a combination of dewatering and pressurisation, with twin pullers connected to the bow and exerting forces of up to 400 tons. The stern was kept in position seaward by means of an anchoring system.
MJ Information No:22300
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