The SMIT Salvage has prepared a complete oil spill contingency plan of capsized oil barge to be submitted to the owner of 'Orion-I' on Thursday.
However, the entire operation could last for at least eight days depending on the weather conditions, which is presently not favourable due to high swell. Sources told Business Recorder on Wednesday that a salvage master of SMIT Salvage and Naval Architect, V. Seva arrived in the metropolis to supervise the entire operation in three phases.
In phase-I, the refloating of barge was included. According to the oil spill contingency plan 'Orion-I' has been refloated. The vessel had turned turtle (capsized) in about 5 meters of water on the seabed is composed of soft mud and silt. The barge is resting on its bridge. A very slight leak was observed from one of the sounding pipes and from an extended spindle valve. The slight leak was immediately sealed using wooden plugs and rags.
In phase-II, the mobilisation of resources and recover oils from the vessel. All loose or damaged structures or other obstruction that may hinder or obstruct the operation will either be secured out of the way or removed. The forward and aft air vent head of the fuel and diesel oil tanks will be removed and replaced with steel flanges.
Each set of the flange will be fitted with a gate valve coupled with a hose connector. Prior to pumping, one end of a long rigid suction hose will be coupled to the hose connector located at the uppermost vent of each tank. The other end will be connected to a pneumatically or hydraulic driven pump located on the work vessel.
The sounding pipe head of the tank, when accessible will be utilised as inlet valve to allow inflow of water to replace the oil and prevent vacuum in the tank.
If the sounding pipe head is non-accessible, than water will be pumped via hoses into the tanks at the lowermost vent pipe to force the oil through the uppermost vent pipe.
The heavy fuel oil from tanks will be pumped to suitable surface storage vessel. After completion of the pumping operation, the oil tanks vent will be sealed will blind flanges. The recovered bunker oil in the barge will be redelivered to owners for disposal.
The entire operation is expected to take about 8 days after its commencement of works at site depending on the weather conditions which is at present not favourable.
During the oil removal phase, salvage divers will continue to undertake further inspections and measurements of the vessel and seabed condition in preparation to undertake the next phase of refloating operation and redelivery of the barge back to its owners. The salvage master would assist the Indus Divers in undertaking the refloating analysis and other calculations.
In Phase-III, the preliminary planning for the refloating indicates that a combination of air and external lifting capacity (barges/steel tanks) will be required to upright and refloat the vessel. The barge would be then redeliver to its owners.
The general plan would be to connect the barges and steel tanks to the hull of the 'Orion-I', introduce air into the tanks of the barge to refloat in a capsized manner. Thereafter, the barge would be towed to shallower water and turn it upright. During the process to stabilise the vessel by pumping out all water and maintaining it in a floating condition.
Sources said, another salvage plan has been submitted to Deputy Conservator of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) by the Dutch experts from Svitzer Wijsmuller Salvage B. V. regarding the barge.
The KPT on Thursday deploy its dredger 'Karamat' to provide stability at the site of casualty to the floating crafts to assess and start salvage activity. The dredger would provide swell protection to the experts. At present, there is about 1.5 to 2 meters swell during the day, which is hampering the assessment activities, the source said.
The KPT would decide after examining the salvage plan of both the foreign salvage companies, the source pointed out.
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