Tricolor Salvage Completed

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.

Meanwhile, the Tricolor had been declared a total loss and the French authorities had ordered it to be removed. In April 2003 the contract to remove the Tricolor was awarded to the ‘Combinatie Berging Tricolor’. In order to remove the 190 m Tricolor, the vessel had to be cut into nine pieces. This extraordinary operation started in July 2003. In the same month the first two cuts were successfully completed. The lifting of the more than 3000 tonnes sections took place in August.

The sections were delivered to a scrap yard in Zeebrugge in Belgium. The third, fourth and fifth sections were cut and delivered by the end of August and fall.

In October the salvage operation had to be halted due to the beginning of the winter. In the spring of 2004 the operation resumed and it is now fully completed as confirmed by the French authorities.