Smit Salvage and Bukser og Berging refloated the Panamanian flag bulk carrier ‘ Full City’ last month in a Lloyd’ s Open Form operation on the coast of Norway. The 1995 built vessel went aground off the Norwegian port of Langesund during the early morning of July 30.
This 26,358 DWT bulk carrier was in ballast when it began to drag anchor in stormy conditions at Heroya Anchorage and grounded on a rocky shore. SMIT Salvage was awarded a LOF contract the following day.
A nine strong salvage team mobilised at Rotterdam and flew out to Norway. They joined SMIT’s Norwegian partners, Buksér og Berging, to perform the salvage operation. The two companies have worked together on many casualties, one of the most notable in recent years being the Rockness.
A feature of the Full City operation was the close cooperation between the salvage team and the Norwegian Coastal Administration. Prior to the grounding, the bulk carrier had 1,200 tons of fuel in its bunker tanks. Oil recovery was the first priority and the team pumped out most of the HFO and skimmed the oil/water mix in the holds. The oil was pumped to a receiving barge. As this pollution prevention operation progressed, SMIT’s Salvage Master put forward a plan to refloat the casualty.
An inspection revealed that Full City had suffered very significant damage. It was hard aground. This was apparent prior to the inspection as Coast Guard video footage showed Full City’s mast vibrating violently in the heavy swells, but with very little vessel movement despite the pounding from big seas. The weather on scene remained poor for much of the operation.
The salvage team found that four of Full City’s five holds were flooded with an oil/water mix, as was the engine room. The salvage flotilla on scene consisted of three Buksér tugs, BB Bever, BB Belos and BB Worker, together with the receiving barge and a diving support vessel which served as the salvage team’s surface platform.
SMIT’s Salvage Master had devised a work programme designed to restore buoyancy. Skimmers and pumps removed the oil/water mix in the holds and much of the damage was patched. It was a major achievement to secure Hold No. 5 due to the scale of the damage. This was crucial, given the weight of accommodation and main engine at the stern. The successful pump-out of Hold No. 5 made refloating a realistic proposition. The alternative would have been a much longer and more costly operation, possibly involving the refloating of the forepart and the wreck removal of the stern.
Full City was refloated by two tugs on 17 August at the first attempt. The casualty touched just once during the exit from the grounding path and then floated free. A slight list was corrected and Full City was towed to a jetty some nine miles distant. The vessel was boomed, as a precautionary measure, and a diving inspection then revealed the scale of the bottom damage. The bottom was open along the entire length, with the exception of the forepeak and aftpeak. The vessel was then redelivered to the owners and salvage services terminated.
Lloyd’s Open Form operations undertaken by SMIT Salvage in the third quarter included responses to casualties in several world regions. In the first eight months of the year, SMIT Salvage secured 16 Lloyd’s Forms. Activities during July and August included a series of refloatings in European waters.
