THE 'UNO' SALVAGE

with most of the world's Freight carried by water safe and prompt arrival of shipments depends on the waters of the world being connected as for instance by the Panama and Suez canals it also depends on these links being kept clear linking the North Sea and the Baltic is the Nord Aust sea canal more popularly called the Kiel Canal it was built back in the 19th century it is 110 kilometers long and plays a major and increasing role in Baltic trade it is thus a very busy canal used by the merchant navies of many nations a vital economic and strategic interest to many on the 11th of July 2002 at hawked on 19 kilometers east of Brunn's Bertil a collision occurs between a push barge and a coaster loaded with 2,400 tons of scrap the you know according to eyewitnesses the you know capsized is almost immediately it's 54 year old engineer is missing local authorities quickly decide to instruct the Dutch German vase Milla Salvage book see a consortium to recover the vessel very smaller salvage and book SIA have worked successfully together in the past a two-phase Salvage plan is devised the ship will firstly be righted and then floated but first before any further work can be done the cargo must be removed a small mobile crane is firstly fitted with an extendable tool to move the cargo of scrap under water to one side of the ship a grab then picks it up and loads it onto a flatbed barge for disposal it is a slow tedious and remarkably difficult way of removing two-and-a-half thousand tons of scrap meanwhile the salvage crew have things to do solvers carry many responsibilities including the property to be salvaged and the environment with a flexible organization and network of joint ventures and agents throughout the world very similar teams are well-trained experienced and have a vast inventory of specialist equipment for optimum performance just as here with boxier of hamburg one of the first important tasks is getting hoist cables underneath the ship's hull to enable the cranes to get to work this is done with a so-called jet injector as Salvage master case on the mount explains with compressed air and water jets the injector is what we use to go under the ship a light line is attached then pull cables and finally the hoist cable this is then attached to the parbuckling hook the work is carried out by a diver the jet injector is forced under the ship metre by metre a colleague diver following progress above water we know the job is successful when air bubbles rise from the other side of the ship now a heavier pull cable is attached and is pulled back through under the ship no more substantial steel cables are attached first a later one and then a heavier one the steel cable is now attached to the hoist cable which in turn is pulled back under the ship a 2 inch waist sling is locked fast in a 150 ton shackle and placed at the you know side ready for the hoisting operation and all this has to be repeated for each of the four lifting slings the second she legs the Aynak arrives two days prior to the hoisting operation this can lift 600 tonnes over 2 blocks of 300 tons each the salvage and Shiah legs crews work closely together to attach the many hoist cables the cables are attached to the public's one by one the preparations require time as everything must be checked and double-checked the salvage crew cannot permit any mistakes men equipment and reputations are all being put to the test the third hoisting cable is pulled through under the ship with the help of the book seer 12 tug the weather is deteriorating but work progresses each day the authorities inquire as to when lifting can commence the wreck is causing congestion which must be solved as quickly as possible it is day five and everything is ready for action the slings have been inserted under the coaster and the parbuckling hooks have been prepared the second roland shear legs is now ordered to maneuver into its lifting position mr. Kenneth type the crane hooks are lowered simultaneously to commit exact positioning of the shillings the crew of VAS Miller Salvage enter the capsized ship to help the crew of the book seer more the share legs the crews work together closely they are equally motivated to see the operation successful whose Mac once the shiaa legs is in position the crew puts the lifting slings into the hooks work that takes a lot of manpower the Rowland as a lifting capacity of 500 tons 250 tons per hook after they have been locked in the hooks are raised to tension the lifting slings now it is the a next turn the Aynak is maneuvered into position this she legs is self-propelled and can maneuver without the help of the tugs everything is checked yet again and the lifting operation is ready the cables are again locked in and tensioned nothing is being left to chance the next day will be the big day it is six o'clock in the morning books here and vas mullah salvages crew discussed last details everyone waits for the signal to start lifting in intermediate so for the Enix now being trimmed each hook is under 50 tons tension all that's left is for the Enoch to finish her trimming and lifting can start dear God the signal is given the Rowland's captain gives the order to hoist though slowly the ship immediately starts to move first of the surface is the wheelhouse the authorities also keep a close eye on progress they are there for such things as protecting the environment and ensuring through shipping traffic is guided carefully past the wreck air starts to escape from various locations in the whole keen eyes check whether any oil is coming with it after about two hours the ship lies practically horizontal on the surface though still largely under it to live its possible oil pollution to a minimum floating booms are placed around the wreck sheets of special oil absorbent are also spread and more are ready the vast Miller salvage and boxier crews are well aware of the importance of protecting the environment divers are guided to possibly leaking pipes with the help of vessel construction plans the vents are closed with the help of waterproof canvas closures quick and effective meanwhile port authorities search for clues which could cast light on the cause of the accident the ship is now upright and stable the last scrap must be removed before temporary hull repair and hoisting can begin now divers measure up the hole in the ship's hull this will allow production of the so called patch the plate which will temporarily seal the hole it is another good for hangers hidden or emitter the Apache Philon of thus far well done I've ordered the patch it will be brought in two sections from the yard to the key side here and welded together then the rubber installed we will then install it on-site maybe this evening or tomorrow morning got a few more freon five the wasting operation draws the usual attention from nearby residents and visitors the patch is seven by five and a half meters and heavy to prevent flexing it is reinforced with so-called angle bars on its inside edges is glued a continuous two centimeter thick 50 centimeter wide sheet of rubber to ensure the patch is relatively watertight this whole assembly will be placed over the hole in the hull it will then be attached to the hull with a Cox submarine gun a tool to shoot steel bolts through thick steel plate these are inserted about every 20 centimeters thus will the hull be temporarily sealed the peso for power this is the very finest operator the divers noplace halters over the ship's side to hang the patch in the correct position this is done in such a way that the patch can no longer move while being attached to the ship's hull it means that passing traffic will not move the patch while attaching it in position once the patch is positioned on the hull the crane is locked and all further movement on board forbidden this protects the divers operating the gun okay young Alex have Somalis floated the Cox submarine gun is an English invention which has been used for many years for salvage operations and suchlike it is an explosive gun designed to drive screwed bolts into steel plates it consists of a holder and a barrel in which the screwed bolts are placed these come in different sizes for different types and thicknesses of plate the gun has been adapted and improved by the salvage industry it attaches objects quickly and accurately underwater and in difficult conditions it is able to save many hours of drilling and tapping a demonstration clearly shows what happens underwater when piercing a 12 millimeter ship's shell after the bolt is inserted a plate with nut is attached the two-man diving team in a cage works underwater with the gun visibility is appalling and it's a curiously delicate job it's also tough and tiresome in the meantime two underwater pumps are prepared to be hung in the you nose hold with a capacity of 1,000 cubic metres an hour they should pump the whole Drive fairly quickly this will help lifting the pumps are in position and have been tested lifting begins the hatch combing must of course be above water before the pumps can be started up as usual the question everyone asks is will everything go as planned the cranes now take full tension it is they that do the heavy work help - of course by the pumps as soon as the hatch combing is above water the hatch combing rises above the water surface the signal to start pumping is given the pumps ensure the vessel can float the cranes provide stability bumping at some two thousand cubic meters an hour the ship slowly but clearly Rises out of the water everything is constantly checked they smell our Salvage specialists are on the job year round and regularly receive training in both traditional and new skills firefighting and handling gas chemicals oil products and other hazardous cargoes are high priorities here the danger is oil release preventing pollution a risk in any shipping incident is today an important aspect of salvage work the purge is now visible and the way it was attached it is clear how much the divers had to do underwater the hole from the inside clearly shows it was big enough to capsize the vessel very quickly it is also clear that the cargo has almost been entirely removed the inspection crew enters the ship to review the situation they check the accommodation the engine room and the fuel and storage tanks during the inspection the body of the missing engineer is found in one of the cabins the interior is chaotic it is a place of tragedy the ship is now in stable condition the pumps and salvage crew have done their work very small as Salvage equipment is designed for reliability and use in many situations much is suitable to be airlifted across the world Salvage means risks and thus professional risk management human lives ships equipment cargo and the environment are all top priorities that allow no compromises and no mistakes the shear legs are released when the you know is shown to be floating free she will be towed to Brunn's metal for transfer to german authorities assert event for a vessel and crew but a successful end to a salvage

Channel: Svitzer Global

Views: 669,246

Rating: 4.6744995 out of 5

Keywords: Coaster UNO, Salvage, SVITZER Salvage, salvage team, re-float, Bugsier Hamburg, vessel, Kiel Canal, SVITZER

Id: jpF7klWsAQ4

Length: 20min 18sec (1218 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 19 2014