Global reach for salvage and wreck removal

This continued during the first quarter of 2011. In mid-March, for example, a team mobilised to go to the assistance of the bulk carrier Atlantic Star, grounded in the Parana River, on the border between Argentina and Uruguay. SMIT’s local partners mobilised a salvage tug for this operation. The casualty is laden with 30,000 tonns of cargo and a refloating may require lightering.

SMIT Salvage cases in the first quarter also included the Panamanian-flag bulk carrier Gdansk. Water levels were low in the Orinoco River following a prolonged drought. The bulk carrier struck rocks in the area of km 184, near Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. This put a 70m gash into the double bottom, breaching a number of tanks and resulting in a loss of bunkers.

SMIT Salvage and local partners Terminales Maracaibo, together with Maritima Ordaz, organised a swift response to this environmental emergency. The priority task was to transfer around 400 tons of Heavy Fuel Oil. Plans for the refloating went ahead, requiring the lightering of 21,000 tons of iron ore. This was a challenging operation but the Gdansk was refloated successfully on the eighth day of the salvage. Subsequently, the vessel was redelivered to the owners.

Activities during the final quarter of 2010 included casualty salvage operations in North West Europe and the response to the container vessel Boundary, following an outbreak of fire in the engine room whilst between the South African ports of Durban and Walvis Bay. SMIT South Africa went to the assistance of this casualty, mobilising the salvage tug Smit Amandla. As the tug headed for the Boundary, a three man salvage team landed by helicopter on the container vessel’s main deck. By noon on the first day, a tow connection was established and the Boundary was heading for Cape Town. An inspection confirmed that the engine room fire was extinguished and the vessel was redelivered at East Quay, Cape Town, the following day.

The salvage tasks in the European region included another vessel fire. The ro-ro Lisco Gloria had over 200 passengers and crew on board when fire broke out during the morning of October 9. Lisco Gloria was sailing from Kiel to Klaipeda and was some 20 miles out when the fire occurred. Fortunately, all passengers and crew successfully abandoned the ship. SMIT Salvage was awarded a Lloyd’s Form and mobilised a team, while two local tugs reached the scene and began boundary cooling.

Despite the large response, this vessel suffered extensive fire damage. The fires were extinguished and the casualty was towed to Odense, for redelivery to the owners.

Major wreck removals are under way at present. They include the SMIT Salvage contract to remove the car carrier Hyundai 105, lost following a collision with a tanker off Singapore some years ago. This vessel had some 5,000 cars on board at the time of the loss.

SMIT’s team began by removing fuel within the wreck. Around 150 tons of HFO was recovered. The main wreck removal task began in February 2011and will take some 12 to 16 months.

Equipment mobilised on scene for the Hyundai 105 operation included the accommodation/work barge Smit Ibis, which acted as surface platform for the oil removal. Subsequently, the two sheerlegs Taklift 1 and Smit Cyclone (on the semi-submersible ocean going transportation barge Giant 3, towed by Union Boxer) arrived. The wreck is being horizontally chain-cut into sections and the scrap then taken ashore. SMIT’s HDW large hydraulic grab is in use to clear the wreck and debris in the surrounding area. At the time of writing, three sections had been cut and removed.

In the second week of March another major project team succeeded in removing, by refloating, the wreck of a 3,500 TEU container vessel, involved in a collision near Mumbai last August. The vessel was refloated on March 17.

SMIT is also in discussion with the Korean Government agency KOEM for the removal of oil from the wreck of the tanker Kuyng-Shin.