RIVER SALVAGE CO

Salvage Operations for Barges to Begin Next Week

Salvage operations to recover two barges stranded in the Ohio River won’t begin before Monday, when high water recedes, the U.S. Coast Guard said, according to the Courier Journal. River Salvage Co. of Crescent, Pa., has been hired to secure the two barges that broke loose early Tuesday when cabling or a coupling snapped just after the tow had cleared McAlpine Locks. Two runaway barges were secured, but one remains partly submerged on the Indiana shore midway between the Sherman Minton and K & I bridges, and another is partly underwater and lodged at the McAlpine Dam. Both are out of the commercial channel and aren’t impeding river traffic. One of the stranded barge’s cargo of salt spilled in the river, while the other barge lost about 1,450 tons of liquid fertilizer. The high water diluted the spillage, and there was no environmental damage, the Coast Guard said. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff members, who were initially on the scene to monitor the spill, are no longer on site, the Coast Guard said. Source: Courier Journal

Bisso Marine Salvages Buried Crane

Bisso Marine recently mobilized a salvage team, the salvage support barge C/B BIG EAGLE and the 700 ton capacity D/B Cappy Bisso to salvage a crawler crane which had fallen into the Atchafalaya River in Berwick, La. The crane, which weighed approximately 100 tons, was knocked into the river upon contact with the HWY 90 Bridge in 2005. At the salvage location the water was 30 ft. deep, but in the two years since the collision

Salvors Complete Scheldt Double Salvage Op

Salvage and towage company Multraship, working with Antwerp-based URS Salvage & Maritime Contracting, has completed two salvage operations in the River Scheldt over a period of fewer than 24 hours. The 12,600 dwt Egyptian multipurpose vessel Aburdees, loaded with general cargo, containers and cars enroute from Bremen to Antwerp, suffered an engine black-out at 1630hrs on December 6. It tried to drop anchor but began drifting in the Oostgat, near Vlissingen

American Salvage Association Names New Leaders

Richard Fairbanks, President of Titan Maritime, LLC (Fort Lauderdale, FL), has been named President of the American Salvage Association (ASA). George Wittich, Senior Vice President of Weeks Marine (Cranford, NJ), has been named the association's Vice President, and John Witte, Jr., Executive Vice President, Donjon Marine Co., Inc. (Hillside, NJ), has been named ASA's new Secretary/Treasurer. "We are very excited about ASA's incoming leadership," said Richard

USCG Sponsors National Maritime Salvage Conference

The U.S. Coast Guard's 13th District is co-sponsoring the National Maritime Salvage Conference 2002, to be held on Jan. 16 and 17, in Seattle, Wash. Joining the Coast Guard as event co-sponsors are: United States Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving, American Salvage Association, Foss Maritime, Foss Environmental, Crowley Marine Services, King County Bar Association, Titan Marine LLC, Water Quality Insurance Syndicate, Global Diving and Salvage, Canflex USA Inc

Salvage Cost of Stranded Tanker Soars

According to a report on www.businessday.co.za, bad weather could drive up the cost of salvaging the stranded oil tanker MT Phoenix to $4.5m, citing information from the South African Maritime Safety Authority. The tanker reportedly ran aground north of Durban on Tuesday. One well-placed industry source cited by the news service estimated the costs could soar even higher. Phoenix reportedly was stranded off a residential area, making the salvage job that much more challenging.

Smit Intl. Earnings Up 40%

Smit International NV announced that net earnings for 2005 have risen by nearly 40% to EUR 38.3 million. Despite facing a heavier tax burden of 30% (up from 24% in 2004), the divisions Harbor Towage, Terminals and Transport & Heavy Lift achieved better results in comparison to 2004. The Salvage division performed well above the so called historical average. SMIT has served the maritime sector for more than 160 years. SMIT’s services are organised into four Divisions:

Bisso Completes Drill Rig Removal

Bisso Marine Co. has completed the salvage operation of a sunken drll rig at the Halter Gulf Repair Industrial Canal facility in New Orleans, La. The 145 x 97 x 22 ft. vessel sank 20 years ago, and had resisted many previous salvage attempts by other salvors. The rig was constructed with two 18 ft. diameter pontoons, which were connected by a substantial floor and interior bracing arrangement. Bisso's salvage plan called for cutting the 860 ton wreck into three sections

Multraship Salvages Toxic Containers

Multraship Salvage has successfully completed an operation to recover three containers loaded with toxic cargo lost overboard in the North Sea from the Ethiopian vessel Andinet. The operation to recover the containers, which were lost twenty miles north of the Dutch coast, off Texel, on December 21, 2003, got under way on January 3 but was interrupted on several occasions by severe weather conditions and was not completed until January 28.

McAllister Joins Marine Response Alliance

The directors of Marine Response Alliance LLC (MRA or Alliance) announced that McAllister Towing and Transportation Co., Inc. (McAllister) has joined the MRA as a full and equal member.  McAllister is now united with the other MRA member companies—Crowley Marine Services, Inc. (Crowley), Marine Pollution Control Corporation (MPC), Titan Maritime LLC (Titan) and Marine Hazard Response (MHR)  (a joint venture of Wild Well Control, Inc. and Williams Fire and Hazard Control, Inc