Resolve Marine Group announced that the Resolve Pioneer, the company’s flagship, has been stationed in Key West, Fla. The Resolve Pioneer AHTS, a multi-service vessel with ice class hull and 80-ton bollard pull, is stationed in Key West for an indefinite period -- for emergency response and salvage standby for tanker and other commercial vessel casualties in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and the U.S. east coast.
The Pioneer had recently been deployed to support skimming operations throughout the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), arriving shortly after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion to lend assistance with the firefighting effort. After the rig sank, the Pioneer was outfitted and engaged in offshore skimming operations throughout the Gulf from April until the fall of 2010. Resolve Marine Group managed a fleet of 120 vessels during the GOM clean-up operations.
Since demobilization in the Gulf, the Pioneer was fitted out for enhanced fire-fighting capabilities to satisfy FiFi-1 requirements. Two specially designed through-hull suction wells were installed to support the vessel’s on-deck firefighting equipment. The unique 16-inch diameter well design delivers proper flow to the vessel’s fire pumps even while underway or operating in a seaway, something difficult to achieve with typical, temporary “hose over the side” installations. The wells provide each of the vessel’s 14” fire pumps with over 5,200 GPM of flow.
The Pioneer is standing ready in Key West to respond to any commercial tanker, container, or bulk cargo vessel or cruise ship that might have an emergency such as a grounding, oil spill, shipboard explosion or fire, or otherwise threaten the sensitive Keys, Caribbean, Gulf or Atlantic marine ecosystems. It is unusual for a salvage company to pre-position a vessel like the Resolve Pioneer for “dedicated salvage” standby, with no other service retainers or assignments.