Salvage and rescue teams battle in stormy seas

Coastal states bordering the North Sea witnessed a series of autumn storms late in 2023, resulting in a succession of requests for assistance from Multraship, a towage and salvage company strategically positioned in South Holland to provide a rapid reaction from a diverse fleet of vessels manned by personnel with long experience in emergency response situations.

When the fishing vessel YM22 grounded high up on the beach at Zandvoort, the Scheveningen-based tug Ocean II also experienced a “challenging situation” and ran aground while attempting a rescue.

Multraship, along with Dutch salvor Koole Contractors and the KNRM lifeboat service, responded to assist the tug, which was truly high and dry and some way from its refloating draught at high tide.

To provide the required depth of water, excavators dug a channel to the tug during low tide. Another challenge, not uncommon on the Dutch coast, was shallow inshore waters hindering a close approach from an assisting tug, so a 1,500m length of lightweight Dyneema line was connected with the Ocean II from the 70tbp Multratug 18 lying offshore. Once preparations were in place and at high tide, the vessel was refloated successfully and returned to the open sea.

In the same month and during a storm that passed over the North Sea and River Scheldt, the pilot boarding vessel Perseus suffered a black-out off Westkapelle, necessitating the evacuation of the crew by a Netherlands Coastguard helicopter, leaving the vessel adrift in heavy seas.

Multraship was tasked once again to provide assistance, and its 83tbp tug Multratug 19 responded with a salvage team able to board the Perseus. After connecting a towline the casualty vessel was brought under control and later, assisted by the Multratug 32 and Multi Cat workboat Multrasalvor 3, brought safely into Flushing.

Responding to the Perseus was not the only casualty Multraship had to manage on that day. The same storm caused the 182m long, 51,371dwt Singapore-flagged chemical/products tanker Torm Loke to come loose from the mooring buoys in Flushing Sloe Harbour. Multraship’s presence in the region was to be of help here with six tugs responding and bringing the vessel back under control.

Inland waterways salvage

Complex salvage operations are not always the preserve of large vessels in remote locations the other side of the world. Europe’s extensive inland waterways systems are vital arteries for commerce, where unplanned restrictions to the freedom of navigation can have severe implications for the timely carriage of goods.

Such a situation was faced in December 2023, when the laden inland barge Jogo 4 “folded and sank” in the Boven-Schelde near Schelderode. The busy waterway between Oudenaarde and Ghent became blocked with only the vessel’s stern remaining partially above water.

Multraship was engaged to recover and remove the vessel and joined forces with Odenaarde, Belgium-based LM Diving Service for the operation at the location which was somewhat restricted by the width of the waterway.

Jogo 4 was loaded with 1,100t of limestone which, along with the vessel’s fuel, had to be removed before the actual task of raising the barge could commence.

Two 80m and 70m pontoons, each fitted with three winches, were positioned either side of the barge and divers from LM Diving Service positioned cables under the vessel for the lifting operation.

A coordinated process of lifting and pumping out water followed, with the barge soon emerging from the river. Provisional repairs and reinforcements were then made to the hull to provide sufficient buoyancy, limit further damage and prepare the damaged hull for transport.

The next stage of the operation involved towing the barge to Shipyard de Schroef in Sluiskil by Multraship’s tugs Multratug 22 and Multratug 5, escorted reportedly by Multratug 2. The convoy was also reportedly escorted to the Dutch border by a Belgian police vessel, where a patrol vessel from Rijkwaterstaat took over the escort, Jogo 4 being refloated just seven days after foundering.

After demobilisation of equipment from the site of the sinking, the Boven-Schelde was once again navigable in both directions and the blockage lifted. Multraship said the salvage operation was carried out in “good cooperation” with the Flemish Waterway and owner and insurers of the Jogo 4.