Salvage of the ANNA BROERE

unab ruler only her bow is visible above water this Dutch chemical carrier had collided with a Swedish container ship back in may 1988 on a relatively calm North Sea in reasonably good visibility the unab rear was to be the cause of some alarm it carried a poisonous cargo of chemicals in the double walled tanks there were 750 cubic meters of acrylonitrile a raw material used for the manufacture of synthetic fibers and with some extremely dangerous characteristics if the cargo were to escape at once it could have fatal consequences for man and environment reason enough for the Dutch Minister of Transport and Public Works to decide for the integral salvage of vessel and cargo and as fast as possible the salvage of the owner Brewer turned out to be one of the most dangerous operations in Dutch maritime history the chemical tanker an Aurora sank near the Braun Bank a son shallow about 100 kilometers aren't from the Dutch port of a mountain on a busy shipping lane with accidents and salvage work the Coast Guard center in a mode and axes coordinator there is constant exchange of information between people on land and at sea after the sinking a first investigation was undertaken by the Metro water and air samples were taken in the immediate vicinity of the wreck right from the beginning acrylonitrile was detected in the water plentiful to do faster centimeter factor centimeter for our chieftain top deform the dock Nadine from the small oft the dangerous gases were diluted the preparations for the cleanup of the un-- abroad began shortly thereafter working at sea is often much more difficult than working on land here an attempt is made to fasten the rope sling to the hoisting block International salvos Schmitt tack and the Coast Guard assembled a large number of specialized vessels around the wreck over 100 people were involved in the operation the intention was to live the unaware together with her cargo onto the floating barge Tek left for all in one operation the disaster of the unn abroad is just one example of an increasing number of maritime accidents on the North Sea involving dangerous cargoes the Dutch Coast Guard is well equipped to assist in any case of maritime accidents the complete Dutch coast line can be patrolled by off-road vehicles the Dutch part of the continental shelf is observed with a twin-engine aircraft helicopters are available 24 hours a day to carry crew to the mainland in emergency a large number of Patrol research and work vessels of many government organisations can be mobilized the Royal Dutch Navy patrolled the salvage area with a frigate a full medical team was on standby in the medical quarters on board a large stock of antidote was ready as first aid to any victims members of the salvage team exposed to the toxic acrylonitrile crew members of the naval frigate had already been trained to undertake rescue activities they were equipped with compressed air masks and protected by a chemical resistant and gas tight suits in the collision the unab rare had been heavily damaged at the stern on the starboard side the ship had sunk with the right side on the bottom chemists who were members of the salvage team took daily samples of the seawater around the wreck in this way attempts were made to obtain a clear picture of the degree and effect of the damage to the tanks because this right part of the on abreu a lay on the sea bottom the divers were not able to inspect there but it was certainly demonstrated that small quantities of acrylonitrile were leaking from the wreck in a laboratory on land the samples were extensively examined Mitra Mitra Christophe centrum fish law center my Meriden the fella had sauna work a new interest alt and it would be an area 20 miles downwind of the salvage location was declared off-limits with radar and communication systems merchants and fishing vessels were warned to steer a cause to avoid the area the consequence of a calamity such as an explosion of toxic gas had to be restricted the major problem that could arise in the salvage of the an Aurora was the one-time discharge of the acrylonitrile cargo if the full load some 750 cubic meters should suddenly come in contact with air a gas cloud could be created that would be lethal safety measures included the Manning of a number of fire cannon on the deck of the floating barge the tech lift for if a cloud of gas should appear during the lifting operation the fire cannon had to ensure that the cloud be smothered a small number of solvers directly involved in the lifting activities stayed on board their special suits were completely sealed to prevent any contact with the poisonous cargo they had to put on to special types of gloves one over the other they were also equipped with compressed air breathing masks you close to the salvage location a pontoon was anchored that served as landing pad for helicopters with spray installations on deck and with gas tight doors and compartments the Royal Dutch Navy was prepared if really necessary to sail along with any cloud of gas such that its position would be clearly known the salvage itself was carried out in two phases the unab were lying on her right side first had to be brought to the vertical after that the real lifting began hanging in ten centimeter thick cradles the chemical tankers slowly emerged out of the water the enormous damage that the collision had caused became visible but setbacks pursued the salvers one of the lifting cradles tore apart in the mass of twisted steel a dangerous situation was in the making as a preventative measure a fire tender pumped a water curtain around the wreck to render possible clouds of gas less dangerous the solvers had to cut the other slings away crew members of the Coast Guard vessels small act immediately started taking measurements dressed in special pressure suits to exclude any possible contact with the cargo a second attempt had more success after the unab rare was sawn in two with the heavy chain the four ship with the cargo tanks was hauled out of the water Minister Schmitt of transport surveyed the operation at sea albeit from a safe distance she decided to attend this cleanup operation after the owners had renounced responsibility for ship and cargo the four ship with the cargo tanks was put on the floating pontoon the verification of the leaking tanks with acrylonitrile could begin in the collision one of the three tanks containing the dangerous chemical had suffered a term inspection showed that the contents had leaked into the sea over the past weeks out of this one small tear the contents of the other tanks were recuperated the salvage project lasted 60 days the costs some 30 million guilders were paid by the Dutch government transport of dangerous materials by sea and certainly in the North Sea is increasing acrylonitrile is transported every day and in spite of all safety measures an accident such as that with the Anna Brewer can always happen again the Dutch government feels strongly that the costs of environmental disasters should be met by the international community the challenge of the environment is an international challenge

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Rating: 4.7397957 out of 5

Keywords: scheepsberging, ship salvage, smit international, tanker, scheepsramp, ship disaster, chemical, chemicaliën, North Sea, Noordzee, safe navigation, berging, anna broere, Marine Salvage (Ship)

Id: vM3tl4-e6Mk

Length: 12min 22sec (742 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 26 2012