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Contents Listing - Articles & Features in this issue
News Round-up: The Kursk disaster: A day-to-day record of the operation to rescue the crew of the striken Russian submarine; P&O's plan to develop Shell Haven into Britain's biggest container terminal; Canadian forces board cargo ship to regain military equipment.
Merchant Navy 1932.
Seeing double.
The FotoFlite File.
The Ship Show.
Vessels involved in the Kursk disaster.
Salvage of a bulk carrier pictorial.
Special readers' offer.
Battles for the convoys.
Incidents around the coast
Drugs shipping line smashed.
Ships of Shame: Foreign ships that failed safety checks.
Tale of two Liberty ships.
Merchant Ships of Yesterday: The Palm Line.
Warships of Yesterday.
Letters and Readers Requests.
Classified.
FRONT: The Panamanian-flag bulk carrier Alpha Happiness, 61,600dwt, of Alpha Tankers & Freighters International Ltd.; she was completed by Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Koje, in 1999.
Article Snippets
Salvage of Russian cement carrier:
THIS YEAR marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of one of the world's leading salvage companies, Titan Maritime, of Fort Lauderdale. It was founded by the present president, David Parrot, with one tug and it has grown into a company that will respond to accidents at sea, pollution incidents and environmental threats world-wide. It has built up a reputation second-to-none for its salvage operations. Today, Titan Maritime no longer own tugs, for the company's policy is that it is highly unlikely that its tugs would be in the right place at the right time. so the company relies on chartering tugs and vessels at the scene.
The company has a major salvage store at its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, and another at Newhaven, in Sussex, where equipment is ready to be shipped out to an incident at very short notice. The company makes extensive use of cargo aircraft,loaded with its salvage equipment, to respond quickly to an incident. The company's large storage facility allows salvage equipment to be on its way within minutes.
One of the company's recent successful operations was the refloating of the Russian bulk carrier Sergo Zakariadze, 23,940dwt, which went aground while entering San Juan, Puerto Rico. on Nov. 18 last year. The ship, which had suffered a steering failure, was carrying a cargo of 17.000 tons of cement in bulk.
The bulk carrier went aground with her starboard side against the breakwater at the El Monro National Park and her port side exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, and she was severely damaged with most of her double bottom holed by the rocks. Within an hour of the grounding, Titan Maritime embarked on a salvage'operation that required a great deal of skill and expertise to overcome both commercial and technical problems in an exposed location in a very sensitive area and hampered by bad weather.
The ship was ballasted to prevent further movement and potential pollutants were removed. Some 500 tons of fuel and lubricating oils were transferred to tugs which went alongside.
To refloat the ship, Titan Maritime had to remove 10,000 tons of cement into small cargo ships, which were brought alongside the starboard quarter of the bulk carrier. One problem arose over chartering small U.S.-flag vessels to handle the cement but as no U.S.-flag ships of the size needed were available, the problem was solved with a federal waiver of the Jones Act restrictions. which allowed Titan Maritime to discharge the cement into internationally-registered ships. Titan Maritime's jack-up crane barge Kariissa B was brought alongside to remove the cargo but the crane could only reach most of the aft holds and so to reach the cargo in the forward holds, a second crane was used, which needed the construction of a steel runway. This second crane lifted the cement from the forward holds to the after holds, from where it was loaded into the ships.
At times, the weather was particularly bad and heavy seas were breaking over the vessel. With only part of the cargo removed, seawater got into the holds and some of the cement was affected. setting hard, The only solution was to use explosives to breakup the hardened cargo and then Bft it into barges. This was a very delicate operation, requiring careful calculations, but it was a highly successful way of overcoming this problem.
Titan Maritime successfully refloated the Sergo Zakariadze at the end of March this year, completing a demanding operation conducted under the full glare of the public in an environmentally sensitive area.
THIS YEAR marks the 20th anniversary of the founding of one of the world's leading salvage companies, Titan Maritime, of Fort Lauderdale. It was founded by the present president, David Parrot, with one tug and it has grown into a company that will respond to accidents at sea, pollution incidents and environmental threats world-wide. It has built up a reputation second-to-none for its salvage operations. Today, Titan Maritime no longer own tugs, for the company's policy is that it is highly unlikely that its tugs would be in the right place at the right time. so the company relies on chartering tugs and vessels at the scene.
The company has a major salvage store at its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, and another at Newhaven, in Sussex, where equipment is ready to be shipped out to an incident at very short notice. The company makes extensive use of cargo aircraft,loaded with its salvage equipment, to respond quickly to an incident. The company's large storage facility allows salvage equipment to be on its way within minutes.
One of the company's recent successful operations was the refloating of the Russian bulk carrier Sergo Zakariadze, 23,940dwt, which went aground while entering San Juan, Puerto Rico. on Nov. 18 last year. The ship, which had suffered a steering failure, was carrying a cargo of 17.000 tons of cement in bulk.
The bulk carrier went aground with her starboard side against the breakwater at the El Monro National Park and her port side exposed to the Atlantic Ocean, and she was severely damaged with most of her double bottom holed by the rocks. Within an hour of the grounding, Titan Maritime embarked on a salvage'operation that required a great deal of skill and expertise to overcome both commercial and technical problems in an exposed location in a very sensitive area and hampered by bad weather.
The ship was ballasted to prevent further movement and potential pollutants were removed. Some 500 tons of fuel and lubricating oils were transferred to tugs which went alongside.
To refloat the ship, Titan Maritime had to remove 10,000 tons of cement into small cargo ships, which were brought alongside the starboard quarter of the bulk carrier. One problem arose over chartering small U.S.-flag vessels to handle the cement but as no U.S.-flag ships of the size needed were available, the problem was solved with a federal waiver of the Jones Act restrictions. which allowed Titan Maritime to discharge the cement into internationally-registered ships. Titan Maritime's jack-up crane barge Kariissa B was brought alongside to remove the cargo but the crane could only reach most of the aft holds and so to reach the cargo in the forward holds, a second crane was used, which needed the construction of a steel runway. This second crane lifted the cement from the forward holds to the after holds, from where it was loaded into the ships.
At times, the weather was particularly bad and heavy seas were breaking over the vessel. With only part of the cargo removed, seawater got into the holds and some of the cement was affected. setting hard, The only solution was to use explosives to breakup the hardened cargo and then Bft it into barges. This was a very delicate operation, requiring careful calculations, but it was a highly successful way of overcoming this problem.
Titan Maritime successfully refloated the Sergo Zakariadze at the end of March this year, completing a demanding operation conducted under the full glare of the public in an environmentally sensitive area.
