Nick Sloane News

Marine salvage experts are floating a plan to tug icebergs from Antarctica to South Africa's drought-hit Cape Town to help solve the region's worst water shortage in a century.Salvage master Nick Sloane told Reuters he was looking for government and private investors for a scheme to guide huge chunks of ice across the ocean, chop them into a slury and melt them down into millions of liters of drinking water."We want to show that if there is no other source to solve the water crisis…

Senior Salvage Master Nick Sloane has joined the senior management team at Resolve Marine Group., aiming to help guide the global growth of the marine services company. The news comes just months after Resolve opened its operations in Gibraltar, expanding its emergency response capabilities to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Nick is a force in the industry and now that Resolve has a worldwide footprint, he is a natural fit,” said Joe Farrell, President and CEO of Resolve Marine Group.

The largest and most complex maritime salvage operation ever carried out was concluded this summer. The Costa Concordia parbuckling operation on the rocks of the Italian island of Giglio has been a success in many ways—not least for the objective to retrieve in one piece, such a massive vessel (117,000 tons) with minimal damage to the delicate marine environment on which it foundered. High performance ropes with Dyneema played a key role in the operation. DSM Dyneema has been supplying UHMWPE fiber, branded as Dyneema  for ropes used in tug and salvage operations for almost 15 years.

Crowley Maritime Corp. subsidiary TITAN Salvage and project partner Micoperi has confirmed that the Costa Concordia – the Concordia-class cruise ship that wrecked off Giglio Island, Italy in January 2012 – is safely moored at the Port of Genoa Voltri, Italy, marking what they describe as the completion of the largest maritime salvage job in history. Towing the disabled ship from the Tuscan Archipelago to the Mediterranean seaport of Genoa was a remarkably delicate task that required a convoy of more than a dozen support vessels, including two tugboats with a combined 24,000 horsepower and 275 tons of bollard pull at the bow for the hull, and two additional auxiliary tugs positioned aft.

The Crowley Maritime Corp. subsidiary TITAN Salvage and partner Micoperi have confirmed that the Costa Concordia – the Concordia class cruise ship that wrecked along shores of Giglio Island, Italy, in January 2012 – has been refloated and has begun its final voyage to an assigned berth in Port of Genoa Voltri, Italy, some 200 miles away. The project is the largest and one of the most technically complex maritime salvage jobs ever completed. Currently moving at an average speed of two knots…

The rusty hulk of the Costa Concordia began its journey to the scrapyard on Wednesday, after a two-year salvage operation off the Italian island where the cruise liner capsized two years ago, killing 32 people. Boats sounded horns and church bells rang as a tug boat slowly pulled the wreck of the liner, which was around two-and-a half times the size of the Titanic, away from the holiday island of Giglio, accompanied by a convoy of 14 vessels. Salvage workers gathered in bars at the port…

Maneouvres began early on Wednesday to remove the rusty hulk of the Costa Concordia cruise liner from the Italian island where it struck rocks and capsized two years ago, killing 32 people. A convoy of 14 vessels, led by the tug boat Blizzard, will start to tow the Concordia later on Wednesday to a port near Genoa in northern Italy where it is due to arrive on Sunday, before being broken up for scrap. Over the past week, salvagers have slowly lifted the 114,500-tonne ship from underwater platforms by pumping air into 30 large metal boxes, or sponsons, attached to the hull. Franco Porcellachia, engineer in charge of the salvage, said on Tuesday that his team had done everything in their power to make sure the ship…

The first day of the refloating operation of the Costa Concordia has concluded successfully. Confirming technician’s estimations, the wreck is now afloat thanks to the buoyancy given by sponsons, 2.2 meters off the false sea bed, and  has been towed for about 30 meters eastwards. Timeline comes from the salvors' 'The Parbuckling Project'. 6.00 am: (Monday) The Costa Concordia refloating operations started as the Senior Salvage Master, Nick Sloane, reached the Remote Operations Center located on the Concordia with the rest of the team. 8.30 am: With the arrival of the ferry at 8.30 am the final phase of the lightening of the wreck has begun.

The wreck of the luxury liner Costa Concordia was refloated on Monday and will soon be towed away and broken up for scrap, more than two years after it capsized off the Italian coast, killing 32 people. The 290-metre Costa Concordia ran aground on rocks near the Tuscan holiday island of Giglio in January 2012. The rusting hulk of the once gleaming-white ship had been resting on a temporary platform since being righted a year ago. In what has become one of the largest salvage operations in history, air was pumped into 30 large metal boxes, or sponsons, attached around the hull of the 114,500 tonne ship. The air forced out the water in the sponsons, lifting the vessel more than 2 metres off the underwater platform.

The Costa Concordia refloating operation has started informs the 'Parbuckling Project' web site. At 6 am Monday, the Senior Salvage Master, Nick Sloane, reached the Remote Operations Center located on the Concordia with the rest of the team, having been given the green light by the Italian authorities on Saturday.

What does it take to lift a ship bigger than the Titanic? On January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia -- one of the largest and most luxurious cruise ships ever built -- ran aground off the coast of Italy leaving 32 people dead. The hulking vessel still remains where it first capsized – becoming a painful eyesore for locals as well as a growing environmental hazard. Now Discovery Channel returns to the scene of the shipwreck with Inside  Raising The Concordia, premiering Friday, September 20, at 10 PM E/P, to capture the major salvage operation taking place and reveal the inside story told by the elite team of engineers tasked with the seemingly impossible -- rotating the massive ship into an upright position and eventually removing it from the sea.

At 0900 local time, 16, September,  the Titan Micoperi Consortium announced that Parbuckling operations had commenced. Capt Nick Sloane, the Senior Salvage Master, gave the order to activate the commands that will be sent from the Control Room on the barge “Polluce” in the immediate vicinity of the bow of the Concordia. All commands and signals – e.g. activation of strand jacks, opening and closing of sponson valves, information about the position of the wreck – will be sent to and from the barge control room via two separate “umbilicals” (one used as a back-up for the other)…

Robert-Jan van Acker head of SvitzerWijsmuller’s global salvage activities, welcomed guests at a reception last week marking the opening of the group’s office in Cape Town. With Robert-Jan is Nick Sloane, SvitzerWijsmuller’s General Manager, Africa. SvitzerWijsmuller’s Cape Town office opened in July. Within the first month, the Cape Town team responded to four marine emergencies. Addressing representatives of SAMSA (the South African Maritime Safety Authority) and Cape Town’s maritime community, Robert-Jan van Acker said: “SvitzerWijsmuller was established in its present form in 2001. Since then, the group’s international activities have expanded steadily.