Nicolai Michelsen News

Polar Cruises, the provider small-ship travel to Antarctica and the Arctic, is now using high power permanent magnets for its 'Silver Cloud' when deploying boats for passenger excursions.The magnets, supplied by Miko Marine of Norway, each have a holding power of 500 kg and are being used by the boat crews to create additional mooring points on the hull of the ship, said a press release.This enables Zodiacs and other boats to be held close against the ship before being relocated to the point where passengers must disembark for excursions, it said.The MAM-003S magnet is the latest addition to the Miko range of magnets and it is housed in a stainless-steel casing for enhanced resistance to seawater corrosion.Despite its holding power…

A diving contractor has removed oil from the wrecked research vessel Thetis, more than 30 years after the vessel sank.When the fishery research vessel Thetis went down into 30 meters of water close to Smøgen on the west coast of Sweden in 1985, it took a substantial quantity of fuel oil down with it. Quantities of the oil later escaped from the wreck and appeared periodically among the skerries on that part of the coast.Norwegian specialist Miko Marine said it had been asked by…

More than 440 tons of heavy fuel oil was extracted from the tanks of the sunken general cargo vessel Thorco Cloud. The wreck lies in two sections 1,730 meters apart and 70 meters down in the middle of the eastbound traffic lane of the Singapore Strait following a collision in December 2015. The heavy oil in the fuel tanks and in trapped compartments was seen as a major pollution hazard. Both the bow and stern sections contained fuel tanks that required emptying, so the Thorco Cloud’s owner, Marship GmbH, supported by the P&I insurance company Standard Club, contracted Jaya Salvage Indonesia early last year. Bumi Subsea provided remotely operated vehicles (ROV) and the dynamically positioned Surf Allamanda, owned by Bourbon Offshore.

A tool for removing oil in submerged vessels was developed in Norway by Miko Marine. Moskito is designed to address the pollution threat that exists with the large numbers of sunken ships around the world that still contain significant quantities of oil in their tanks as cargo or bunker fuel. Many of the thousands of ships sunk during WWII now have seventy years of corrosion eating at their plates and the days are drawing closer when the pollutants could escape. Options include sealing the wreck or recovering the pollutant in a controlled manner, which Moskito seeks to do.

A tool for removing oil trapped in submerged vessels has been developed in Norway by design specialists Miko Marine. The launch of the Moskito aims to address the pollution threat that exists with the large numbers of sunken ships around the world that still contain quantities of oil in their tanks as cargo or bunker fuel. Many of the thousands of ships sunk during World War II now have 70 years of corrosion eating at their plates and the days are drawing inexorably closer when the pollutants that they contain will escape.

Following a full product trial in New Zealand, the Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) has signed its acceptance of the first of two ShipArrestor systems from Miko Marine, making Norway the first country with a system that gives it the ability to protect its shores from the danger of drifting oil tankers and from the disastrous pollution that can result when they run aground. The newly manufactured ShipArrestor was put through a complete customer acceptance trial in Tasman Bay, New Zealand using chartered helicopters and vessels.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket) has signed a contract with Miko Marine AS to become the first national agency to purchase the ShipArrestor system. The two packages ordered are due for delivery this summer and feature sea anchors that can be deployed on ships by helicopter. The systems will help protect Norway’s coastline against the pollution and other hazards caused when ships lose engine power and drift before running aground. By dramatically slowing the ship’s rate of drift, the ShipArrestor creates more time in which it can be reached by a rescue tug.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) has placed a significant order with Miko Marine AS of Oslo, for the supply of Salvage and Tanker kits of its unique magnetic patches. The kits will be carried aboard all five of the NCA Emergency Towing Vessels (ETV) which are stationed around the coast of Norway. The ETVs will have the patches available for making emergency repairs to vessels with damage or hull integrity problems as may have been caused by collision or grounding or by defective valves and seals.

It has been confirmed that the rapid availability of magnetic patches from Miko Marine AS ensured the speedy closure of sea chests during pumping operations to save the cruise ship Nordlys. The emergency salvage work took place on 15 September in the Norwegian port of Ålesund after an engine room explosion at sea caused hull damage that resulted in two fatalities. The subsequent fire led to the rapid evacuation of the ship’s 207 passengers and 55 crew from the Hurtigruten-operated cruise ship which was towed to port.

A magnetic patch made by Miko Marine AS of Norway has been used to seal a leak in the hull of the nuclear waste freighter Puma . The Danish-flagged ship was in danger of sinking on December 18 when it experienced a leak in its engine room while sailing south along the coast of Norway following its delivery of 333 tons of spent nuclear fuel to Murmansk. The ship appealed to the Norwegian Coastguard for help and was allowed to anchor west of the island of Sørøya in the far north of Norway.