Black Sea base delivers successful salvage
‘Irtysh 1’ is seen aground on the Black Sea coast near Bourgas.
Multraship Salvage and SVITZER Salvage have refloated the Russian flag cargo ship 'Irtysh 1' after it had ran aground on the rocky coastline off the Bulgarian Black Sea coast near Bourgas.
The 2,913 dwt, 1996 built vessel ran aground near Cape Foros on 8 February after strong winds and waves reportedly broke its anchor and drove it towards the coast. At the time of the incident, the vessel, which operates between Greece and Romania, was sailing in ballast, with 35 tons of bunkers on board.
After several days during which ship’s interests made unsuccessful attempts to free the vessel on their own account, Multraship and SVITZER were engaged to undertake the operation. Mobilising four tugs from Multraship’s dedicated base in the port of Bourgas and a salvage team from SVITZER, salvors managed to refloat the vessel and tow it into the port of Bourgas, where an inspection of the hull was made.
Multraship set up operations in Bulgaria in 2005 after buying Bourgas Tug Services as part of a targeted business expansion plan and as a demonstration of its faith both in Bulgaria and in the greater Black Sea region. Its market share of harbour towage, its main area of activity at the port, has since grown by more than five-fold. It currently has a staff of more than seventy people, and a fleet of seven vessels stationed in the area.
Images for this article - click to enlarge
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2012. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.
