Salvage opportunities as two ships sink off southeast Asia

Salvage opportunities as two ships sink off southeast Asia
Martyn Wingrove Tue 27 Feb 2018 http://www.tugtechnologyandbusiness.com/news/view,salvage-opportunities-...

Two ships have sunk and one tanker has been refloated off southeast Asia.

There will be opportunities for tug operators in the region to salvage the two cargo vessels which sank off Vietnam and southern China in February.

Chinese coastal cargo ship Xinying F069 and two of its crew were lost beneath the waves after it collided with passenger ferry Hai Kou Jiu Hao.

The 28 m cargo ship was loaded with steel and sailing from Hainan Island when it hit the ferry, which had 972 passengers and some 140 vehicles on board. Xinying F069 capsized and three crew were rescued by the ferry during a search operation.

However, two other seafarers were missing and the wreck of the coaster remains partially above the water and is a navigation hazard in the sea off Hainan.

In another incident in the region, general cargo ship Binh Nguyen 86 sank on 23 February in the Gulf of Tonkin, Vietnam. According to Fleetmon, vessels from Vietnam, including a nearby container ship, were directed to the disaster site.

The container ship discovered two liferafts in the vicinity and rescued eight people, which was all the crew of the sunken 2008-built, 1,927 dwt freighter.

In a successful salvage project in the area, two tugs were able to refloat damaged product tanker Hang Yu 11 on 21 February. This Panama-registered vessel ran aground off Zhuwei fishing harbour, Taoyuan in Taiwan, on 3 February.

Asian Marine Co was contracted to salvage the tanker and dispatched tugboats Salvage Champion and Salvage Ace to free 2,998 gt Hang Yu 11.

The oil was removed by 9 February, allowing towage operations to commence. Initial salvage operations were hampered by adverse weather conditions and the tanker superstructure and engineroom were damaged by storm waves. Nonetheless, Salvage Champion and Salvage Ace were able to remove the tanker from the rocky shore.