TUGS & SALVAGE

SMIT Salvage teams keep busy

17 years ago

SMIT Salvage teams were busy in the Gulf of Mexico in the final weeks of the first quarter. Work in this region included a Lloyd’ s Form salvage, a ship to ship transfer of an oil cargo under emergency conditions and the subsea recovery of pollutants from a sunken rig. This followed a strong final quarter in 2008, with activities including the refloating of three grounded vessels.

The first quarter 2009 LOF refloating involved the bulk carrier Eltanin, fully laden with 44,000 tons of sulphur. This vessel grounded off Sabine, in the Gulf of Mexico on 1 March. A salvage assessment led to the prompt conclusion that refloating would require a part discharge of the cargo. This operation was progressed and some 9,000 tons of sulphur was lightered. A refloating attempt on 11 March met with complete success. An underwater survey revealed no significant damage. The part cargo was backloaded and Eltanin continued the voyage to China.

SMIT’s March workload also included the response to the SKS Satilla. This crude oil carrier, approaching Galveston, was preparing to lighter prior to entry when it developed an 8(DEGREE) list. A SMIT Salvage team conducted an ROV survey and found significant damage to water ballast tanks. As a result, a full ship to ship transfer of the 150,000 dwt tanker’s cargo was performed over a three day period.

SMIT’s team then surveyed the track of SKS Satilla and discovered the wreck of the drill rig ENSCO 74, a victim of last year’s Hurricane Ike, in around 30m of water. Discussions with ENSCO resulted in a contract to remove hydrocarbons from the sunken drill rig. The project team hot tapped into various tanks and removed oil.

March also saw SMIT Salvage commission a newly acquired NAPA ship design programme. This software is used extensively by the emergency response services of leading classification societies, including Lloyd’s Register, GL and DNV. A large population of vessels is modelled in this system. NAPA’s benefits, in a salvage context, include faster transfer of data between owner, classification society and salvor.

Earlier in the first quarter of this year, SMIT’s Lloyd’s Form operations included the refloating of the Ameglia Star. This vessel, laden with some 9,000 tons of marble blocks, grounded in the approaches to Tripoli. SMIT Salvage was awarded a LOF 2000 contract and a salvage team and equipment were mobilised to the scene. In addition, a lightering vessel was fixed, in readiness for the part discharge of the casualty and a successful refloating was achieved.