WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 11861 [post_author] => 34 [post_date] => 2019-10-24 07:58:37 [post_date_gmt] => 2019-10-24 06:58:37 [post_content] =>

During a passage from the Far East to Europe this past June, the general cargo vessel Bow Diamond (7,500 dwt, 2001) encountered very heavy weather while in the Gulf of Aden. This caused 29 containers in a cargo hold to break loose from their lashings.

Among those containers were a number loaded with UN 1.1D explosives – TNT (trinitrotoluene) and RDX (cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine). Part of the contents spilled from the damaged containers into the hold, creating a very dangerous situation for the vessel and its crew. The quantity of cargo involved has been put at 373 tonnes.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the vessel found difficulty in finding refuge but it was eventually given shelter at a naval base in Egypt. Underwriters decided to deal themselves with what was initially seen as a cargo clean-up operation and engaged a team of experts to deal with it. Five Ocean Salvage (FOS) was contracted on commercial terms to handle the maritime aspects of the operation.

The plan was to sweep, clean and neutralise the cargo hold where the explosives had spilled. All broken packages were to be collected and re-packed, and stuffed into new containers in accordance with the requirements of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code. However, this operation was too complex to be done on commercial terms and all efforts reached a standstill after 10 days. At that point a Lloyds Open Form (LOF) was agreed with the owners of the vessel, with a Special Compensation P & I Club (Scopic) clause invoked.

BENEFIT OF TEAMWORK

FOS prepared a detailed risk assessment for the intended operation – taking into account the fact that the blast radius in the event of something going wrong was calculated to be in excess of 9 km.

Salvors engaged a team of 26 personnel, including two salvage masters, an IMDG specialist, a hazmat specialist, an explosives expert, 10 riggers and foremen, eight in a hazmat team and two industrial firefighters. Specialised personal protective equipment and explosion-proof tools were ordered and mobilised to Egypt, as well as special made-to-order antistatic bags for repacking of the spilled cargo or damaged cargo bags.

Over the course of the following weeks, salvors created a suitable environment onboard and ashore next to the casualty that allowed them to handle, re-pack and re-stow all affected cargo successfully and the vessel was ready to resume its voyage.

This article is an edited version of a report carried in the October 2019 edition of the International Salvage Union’s (ISU) newsletter, Salvage World, and is reproduced by permission of ISU and FOS, which also supplied the photograph.

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