Smit Salvage Bv News

Costa Crociere has set up a technical committee, with representatives from Costa Cruises, Carnival Corporation & plc, Fincantieri, Rina and sector experts, including academics, who will work for the best possible drawing up of the plan, on a joint basis with the competent authorities. As anticipated in a letter sent to Costa Concordia Emergency Commissioner Franco Gabrielli, Costa Cruises has called for tenders 10 companies throughout the world to present a working plan to enterely remove the hull of the Costa Concordia. The invitation has been sent to the world’s leading operators, who have the capabilities to perform the work in the shortest time possible…

The wreck of the TASMAN SPIRIT has been successfully removed. The aft section was re-floated on Saturday, March 6, and was yesterday delivered to buyers at Gadani Beach in the province of Baluchistan, Pakistan. This follows the earlier removal of the forward section of the tanker that had run aground in the channel into Karachi Port on July 27 last year. The wreck removal contractors SMIT Salvage B.V., were operating under a wreck removal contract agreed with The American Club, the vessel’s liability insurers. Speaking in London, Brian Davies, Claims Director of The American Club said, ‘We are very pleased with the outcome. SMIT have completed a difficult operation under difficult circumstances well within the required time frame.

The wreck removal of the ‘Tricolor’, the vehicle carrier that was lost in December 2002 20 miles off the French coast in the English Channel, will resume May 15. The vessel was cut into nine sections, four of which remain on the seabed. The remaining sections will be lifted and transported to Zeebrugge in the months to come. All the cutting work on the vessel finished last year before the operation was halted in November due to adverse weather conditions. The 1987-built ‘Tricolor’ was lost following a collision with the container ship Kariba. The ‘Tricolor’ was en route to Southampton from Antwerp, laden with nearly 3,000 luxury cars. It also carried some 2,000 tons of bunker oil. The vessel suffered severe damage and she went down in less than half an hour.

The wreck removal of Tricolor has now been successfully completed. With a constant focus on safety and environment everyone involved in the removal operation have managed to prevent danger and further pollution. Last month all large sections of the Tricolor wreck had been removed. After this the salvage team focussed on removing the remaining debris and wrecked cargo. On December 14, 2002 the car carrier Tricolor and the container vessel Kariba collided in the English Channel within the French EEZ. The Tricolor capsized and sank within 30 minutes. A salvage team from SMIT Salvage BV was called upon to recover bunker and lube oil from the vessel, which operation was completed in February 2003.

Joop Timmermans was elected President of the International Salvage Union at the ISU’s September Annual Meeting in Quebec. Joop Timmermans, managing director of the Dutch towage, salvage and heavy lift company I.T.C. (International Transport Contractors), succeeds Jean Labescat, of the French Les Abeilles. Joop is a master mariner by profession. He commenced his seagoing career in 1962 with Nederland Line (Royal Dutch Mail) of Amsterdam, which later merged with NedLloyd Lines. He obtained his Master's License in the early 1970s. In 1975, Joop joined I.T.C. as a Marine Superintendent. He became Manager of the Commercial Department four years later and Vice-President in 1983. In 1991, he moved to Fairmount Marine of Rotterdam as Managing Director, a position he held for six years.

Weather improvements have allowed salvors in the English Channel to commence work on the wreck removal operation of the Tricolor. Due to bad weather conditions the operation had to be discontinued on July 16. Despite the delay work is still on schedule. After extensive preparations the ‘Combinatie Berging Tricolor' will initiate the first of eight cuts today. The cutting wire will be pulled back and forth with special winches aboard the platforms Vagant and the Buzzard. The Buzzard has been utilised earlier to install messenger wires underneath the wreckage of the Tricolor. Those wires have to guide the cutting wire into position. After…

WWW.TRICOLORSALVAGE.COM, a website that provides information on the development, background and progress of the remarkable wreck removal operation of the Tricolor, one of the biggest wrecks ever to be removed. A consortium consisting of SMIT Salvage B.V., Scaldis Salvage & Marine Contractors N.V., URS Salvage & Maritime Contracting N.V. and Multraship Salvage B.V. Apart from being a reliable source of information for the press, the purpose of the website is to inform interested parties about the challenging wreck removal operation in the English Channel. The CBT will use a specially designed wire cutting system to divide the wreck into nine sections. Thereafter, each section will be lifted out of the water and placed onto pontoon barges for transport to Zeebrugge, Belgium.