Looking in the Salvor's Toolbox

When Titan Salvage and T&T Salvage took over the failed salvage of bulk carrier Ocean Breeze last year, 300 meters off Llolleo Beach in Chile, they were faced with 34,000 tons of grain, rotting and releasing dangerous amounts of hydrogen sulfide, a constantly shifting seabed, and a narrow beach that washed away before the job was completed.

“The ocean changes every day. The wrecks change every day,” says Captain Rich Habib, Managing Director of Titan Salvage. Most times, salvage companies have two or three weeks at best to plan their operations. Equipment and experience are drawn from past jobs but applied in a new and unique context. The Ocean Breeze job required the use of unique ship-to-shore equipment including an aerial cable care adapted to carry grain to shore and a pneumatic pontoon system, and more standard equipment such as Titan’s linear hydraulic chain pullers, T&T’s high-capacity pumps, and Smith Maritime’s tugboat Rhea.

But it was the combined 50-person salvage team and the captain and crew of Rhea that Habib and Project Manager Gordon Amos particularly commend: “Dedicated people performing heavy, sometimes dangerous, demanding tasks for long hours in the dark and the cold and the wet, without complaining.”

More Than Equipment 

Habib highlights the importance of people and relationships again in the refloating of the containership Danio from its stricken position off England’s Northumberland coast earlier this year. The work was completed in challenging sea and weather conditions, marked by waves up to seven meters, freezing rain and gale-force winds. When it was determined that conditions were too extreme for supplies to be brought in via helicopter, Titan partnered with local fishermen, who ferried in equipment and provisions. 

The Titan team also worked closely with Briggs Marine Environmental, which provided spill-prevention equipment, the Secretary of State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Environment Group and the National Trust to ensure vessel security and environmental protection. Titan had to work quickly, says Habib: “In addition to prioritizing protection of the environment, the two-week salvage job was successful in large part because of Titan’s excellent working relationships with the authorities and client.”

Titan’s resources are now being put to the test on Costa Concordia, but Habib admits that the concepts and techniques involved are well-established: “What is new is the size of it and the project management. We started this job with a handful of people, and we are now up to more than 500.” Over 30,000 tons of structure have been built for the salvage, designed and produced simultaneously under a tight schedule. “The sophistication of the project management that we needed to accomplish this is new to the salvage industry, at least at this level, and I think that it will be used more in the future,” says Habib. 

The mega-container ships coming into operation today are going to be a challenge that the industry will overcome, says Habib. “The technologies that we use to remove the wreck of an 18,000-TEU container ship won’t be all that different from what we use now, but again it will bring to bear the high level of project management expertise that salvors really didn’t need in the past.”

The Demand for Certainty

The rising costs of salvage as demonstrated by Costa Concordia and also Rena, a close second, can be attributed in part to the call by authorities, insurers and consultants for certainty. “They want to know that you have a 100 percent chance of being successful and that you have a 100 percent chance of a particular part of the operation being successful,” says Habib. “They want specific numbers: that I am going to refloat a ship and I am going to have 22cm of clearance underneath the hull when I do.” The problem is there is no certainty in wreck removal, and it is expensive to provide the appearance of certainty. “We don’t control our situations,” Habib adds, “We go into them knowing that things can change.”

The confidence of owners, insurance companies and local authorities must be maintained through open communication and the discussion of options, adds Fabian Teo, Assistant Manager for Emergency Response Services at POSH Semco in Singapore. Local maritime authorities are now more heavily involved in salvage operations and have definite expectations on environmental protection. 

These external demands are balanced against the salvage company’s own needs. “Technological advances and improvement in safety on board ships have resulted in a reduced number of casualties and a greater unpredictability of work,” says Teo. “There is commercial pressure to keep salvage personnel, tugs and a comprehensive array of equipment on hand, but it is a balance to ensure that personnel, equipment and vessels kept purely on standby for salvage are not perceived as a waste of money.”

Environmental Challenges

David Usher, Chairman and Founder of Marine Pollution Control in the U.S., sees changes in the clean-up market. New fuel sources such as tar sands from Canada have a high bitumen content that sinks in water. Clean-up of these heavy oil components, if done, has usually been accomplished by divers, but there are problems. Walking on the seafloor, divers stir up the oil, reducing visibility and hampering clean-up. To remedy this, Usher has developed a manned submersible that also allows for cost-effective operation in deep waters. The submersible can be used for recovery of oils in ship casualties and may also be suitable for recovering oil from the underside of ice. 

Global Diving and Salvage in the U.S. specializes in subsurface work such as removing bunker fuel from wrecks. For David DeVilbiss, Vice President of Marine Casualty Response and Emergency Response Services, this means maintaining leading capabilities with divers and advanced remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). The company has developed special tooling for both work- and inspection-class ROVs that is used to test for and retrieve oil. Such a need arose when contracted by the U.S. Coast Guard to determine if oil was present aboard Montebello, a World War II tanker that sank in 900 feet of water off the coast of California. 

Global’s Seaeye Cougar XT ROV was used as the platform to support an inspection of the vessel, both visual and sonar, and to conduct thickness-gauging and physical sampling of the tank contents and surrounding sediments. Global teamed with T&T Bisso (now T&T Salvage) to provide engineering support and 3D modelling of the vessel, and Tracerco was subcontracted for its neutron backscatter tool, a non-invasive sensing device that can detect the presence of oil and oil/water interfaces. As a result, the Coast Guard was able to decide that Montebello did not pose a pollution threat to California waters and shorelines.

In the last few years Global has assisted on over 10 offshore incidents where drilling rigs or other offshore platforms have been damaged, collapsed or overturned. The company offers contract diving and ROV services in this market, but unlike many other contractors is able to assist in specialized situations because of its salvage capabilities and ability to deal with engineering failures and stressed steel underwater.

Salvors are increasingly required to work at depth, both in the offshore environment and in salvaging cargo vessels, says DeVilbiss: “We are seeing deep water recoveries where in the past, 10 or 20 years ago, cargo ship pollution would have been considered out of sight and out of mind, or beyond recovery.” The need to work at greater depths is part of an increasing focus on the environment, which is also making DeVilbiss consider how to prepare for the need to treat ballast water to reduce the risk of invasive species transfer as part of the lightering process. This need is arising as both local and international regulations are being developed to deal with the problem throughout the shipping industry.

Planning Ahead

U.S. legislation requiring shipping companies to make prior arrangements with salvors as part of their emergency preparedness came into effect in 2008 but, says DeVilbiss, the jury is still out on whether or not it has really had a significant impact: “There always was a good salvage response in the U.S. anyway, but it has caused salvage companies to look closely at making sure they are checking the boxes on the regulations, which is a good thing. It really makes you take stock of your inventory, look at where it is and how you are going to move it.”

Being well established in Alaska means that this is not a static process as Global migrates its supply bases and contacts north and south, following the seasons. Arctic regions are distinct in this regard compared to other remote areas, says DeVilbiss, and rapid attendance to a casualty has to be balanced against being able to maintain operations in remote conditions: “If you fly equipment in, you get there quicker than sailing a salvage vessel there, but you potentially have more logistical issues with accommodations and food. We try to position gear close to where we feel it will be most needed and we pre-prepare with contacts and support networks. But the Arctic, particularly above North America, changes drastically throughout the year, so our response posture needs to change with that.” 

Wendy Laursen writes from New South Wales, Australia.