Singapore team gears up to Salvage ship today

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Salvage specialists are confident of retrieving merchant tanker Pratibha Cauvery grounded at Nochi Kuppam behind the Santhome Church in the city. A seven-member team from Singapore has completed its study and has decided to begin work from Tuesday. Pratibha Cauvery will be the third ship to undergo salvage operations along the city’s coast, said experts.

Officials from the Netherlands-headquartered Smit Salvage and Vishwakarma Mecha­nical Works, Mumbai, have finished preliminary checks and have completed document formalities to start operations from Tuesday.

“The towing vessel with 133 bollard pull Malviya 21 has reached the port from Kakinada and is parked at Jawahar dock,” said Chennai Port Trust chairman Atulya Misra, adding, “If the team is not able to retr­ieve the ship with Malv­iya 21 then they will wait for the emergency towing vessel, which is on its way from Kochi,” he added.

Explaining the process of salvage operations, an industry expert said that the team would first attempt to pull the ship out slowly using a powerful tug. “The main concern would be oil leakage and any damage to environment. They will first test the ship's hull for leakage,” the expert added.

In the case of Pratibha Cauvery, there is no cargo except for ballast water which, according to Mr Misra could be discharged into the sea. "The salvage team will take the call on removing weights from the ship," he added

Industry experts said that the attempts to restore two other ships that grounded near Chennai coast in 1966 and 1995 respectively had failed and both the ships were later dismantled. On November 3, 1966, a Liberian flagged cargo vessel Stamatis had grounded at the Marina beach and attempts to re-float her had failed.

“I still vividly remember another ship grounded near Ennore Creek in November 1995. As like today, the beach stretch looked like a tourist spot then too. We even had fishermen take us near the ship for a sum,” said Mr R.N. Joe D. Cruz, a shipping consultant. He added that the salvage operations were not successful for that ship too.