RESOLVE BRINGS BIBBY BURNING SHIP UNDER CONTROL
A fleet of tugs has brought an abandoned and burning ship under control, off the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean, after a week of fire-fighting. Resolve Marine was tasked with salvaging an abandoned bulk carrier with a cargo of ammonium nitrate that exploded following elevated temperatures in two holds on 12 August. The search and rescue specialist, who's subsidiary Resolve Salvage & Fire is speaking at the upcoming Asian Tug Technology & Salvage Conference in Singapore, was using tugs Mar Rojo Fos, Miguel De Servantes and VB Hispania for fighting a fire on British-flagged cargo ship Cheshire. Moroccan port tug Jacques 2 was also attending to the maritime casualty. The 56,597 dwt ship, owned by Bibby Line Group was transporting 40,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate from Thailand to Norway for fertiliser manufacture when crew discovered a fire in the hold. The crew were lifted off the 2012-built ship following a cargo explosion, but Cheshire was left drifting off Hierro Island, Canary Islands. According to the ship’s owner, Bibby Line, salvors managed to get a tow line on to the ship and begin towing it towards Gran Canaria. Prior to that, the four tugs were moving with the bulk carrier using water cannon to cool the fire. The cargo owner had provided Resolve with advice on cargo cooling. “Holds four and five have now cooled down as the process of decomposition is believed to have completed,” Bibby Line said in a statement to Tug Technology & Business. “But holds two and three are still decomposing and emitting fumes, while hold one is presently stable. The salvors now have four tugs in attendance and they have been cooling the sides of the vessel with water, while the vessel continued to drift.” Resolve Marine has a permanent presence in in Gibraltar, where it can swiftly mobilise tugs to any incidents in the Mediterranean or North Atlantic. Resolve Salvage & Fire commercial manager Bas Wiebe will be presenting the latest salvage issues at Riviera's Asian Tug Technology & Salvage Conference that will be held in Singapore on 18-19 September, in association with Wärtsilä. He will outline the key requirements of tugs in salvage operations, the latest wreck removal tenders in Asia and present case studies of the latest salvage projects. (Source: Tug Technology & Business)