An operation to remove the wreck of a Greek oil tanker that ran aground outside the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) more than six months ago causing country's worst ever oil spill will start this week, officials said on Monday.
The single-hulled Tasman Spirit is to be broken up at Gaddani about 50 km from Karachi.
The tanker, built in 1979, was carrying 67,500 tonnes of crude oil when it ran aground on July 27.
It snapped in two in August, leaking around 29,000 tonnes of crude in the worst spill in the country's history and polluting long stretches of beach around Karachi.
The tanker remains submerged outside the channel leading to the port and authorities say it is essential to remove it before the start of the next monsoon season in July to ensure unhindered port operations.
Hashim Mujtaba, a representative of the Protection and Indemnity Club (P&I Club), the tanker's insurers, said a leading Dutch salvage firm, the Smit Salvage Co, had been hired by owners to remove the wreck.
"It will be a very complicated and difficult operation," he told Reuters.
In the first phase, the front portion of the ship will be removed. "It will take more than 48 hours to float it and take it to the ship-breaking yard of Gaddani," he said.
Gaddani is one of the world's biggest ship-breaking centers.
A local ship-breaking company, Dewan & Sons, has bought the tanker's front portion, weighing more than 5,000 tonnes, for around 24 million rupees ($ 420,000), he said.
"The removal of the wreck will start in the next couple of days after the payment of customs duty and completion of other formalities."
The rear portion of the ship will be sold later, he said.
Pakistan is demanding $ 1 billion compensation for environmental damage caused by Tasman Spirit. The KPT said the issue of damages has yet to be settled.
Pakistan has accused five Greek crew members of the tanker of negligence and has barred them from leaving the country.
The tanker is owned by Assimina Maritime Ltd, Malta and operated by Polembros Shipping, Greece.
News that the tanker is to be broken up at Gaddani will not go down well with some residents there nor with environmental groups such as Greenpeace, who say the ship-breaking yards pollute the coastline and contravene the most basic safety standards.
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