Home »Business and Economy » Pakistan » Tasman wreckage to be removed by mid-March

  • News Desk
  • Jan 27th, 2004
  • Comments Off on Tasman wreckage to be removed by mid-March
The wreckage removal of Tasman Spirit would be completed by middle of March as the salvager has started its operation.

The salvager has divided the operation into three phases to completely clear the wreckage of the broken oil tanker.

Nick Sloame, Project Manager of SMIT International, told Business Recorder on Monday when a team of newsmen visited the site of broken tanker: "If this pace of wreck removal operation continues, we would be able to complete the entire operation by mid-March."

He added that if any mishap struck the operation, "you can add three more weeks for the operation to complete".

Nick said that about 1,100 tonnes oil is still there in different compartments of the oil tanker, "but we have brought 650 metres of booms of different sizes to control any oil spill".

He said: "Presently, we are busy plugging 35 holes in different compartments. Then we would put gas into these compartments and try to refloat the front section (fore) of the tanker.

After that, it would be transported with the help of heavy share-leg crane of 1,000 tonnes capacity to Gaddani ship-breaking yard at the designated place by owner of tanker."

The transportation of front section of Tasman Spirit to the yard would take three days.

"If we cannot have any success to refloat the front section, we would dismantle it into small pieces and transport it on barges and take to Gaddani yard," he added.

Nick said, "We have hired six divers from Indus Marine, who are also helping in plugging the holes and monitoring them through video camera mounted on the diving suit and, if needed, any important footage is recorded."

He said, "We have to clear an estimated 15,000 light dead tonnage (LDT) of tanker iron."

The salvagers have brought heavy equipment, including three tugs, one submersible barge and one floating crane (share-leg crane) of 1,000 tonnes capacity.

He said that another share-leg crane of 1,600 tonnes capacity would be arriving from Singapore by the third week of February to help the operation.

About 137 persons are involved in the operation; of these 61 are foreigners and remaining are local workers.

The Protect and Indemnity Club (P&I Club) wold pay the cost of wreckage removal as per agreement with the Karachi Port Trust (KPT).

The tanker, which was grounded on July 27 last year and later broke into two pieces on August 14, was carrying 67,500 tonnes of crude oil for Pakistan Refinery Limited.

The tanker is owned by the Asimina Maritime Limited of Valetta Malta.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2004


the author

Top
Close
Close