With the arrival in the port area of Barranquilla of the specialized tug “Ocean Sky” from the United States, the second phase of the rescue plan for the ship Nordic Wolverine began, which has been stranded since last Sunday, July 19 in the Bocas de Ceniza area .
Three other tugs are also participating in the salvage plan that develops its operational part under the coordination of the Colombian General Maritime Directorate (Dimar).
The port captain, frigate captain Carlos Urbano, said that the second phase began after the improvement of the meteorological conditions after the passing of the storm ‘Gonzalo’ and the arrival of the tugs to Barranquilla that will facilitate the operation.
The maneuver that is carried out consists of achieving the refloating of the stranded ship with special equipment, since it is located on a rocky bottom very close to the western cutwater.
The Ocean Sky, which arrived in the city yesterday morning, is an international tug that has specialized equipment and an expert crew in this type of emergency, making it key to the rescue, taking into account the chemical load it has. the ship run aground.
One of the specialized equipment it handles is a condenser that injects air into the tanks of the ship so that it rises to its level and its hull is not affected by the rocky bottom when it is towed.
To complement the operation, teams also arrived yesterday from the United States by air.
The tugs “Caño Cristales” and “Antarias” arrived from Cartagena and Santa Marta, respectively, to support the operation. To them is added a fourth tug that operates the port of Barranquilla.
Once the ship is run out, it will be taken to an area near Puerto Velero for an underwater inspection to determine its condition and from there it will go to a shipyard for repair.
“Security protocols continue to be developed, verification in the area at the command post and monitoring of the rescue plan in order to achieve recovery, refloating, and bringing it to safer waters from the stranded motor ship,” said Urbano .
The port captain specified that during the weekend, while the meteorological conditions were being evaluated, some improvements were carried out, such as ballasting the ship, the verification and connectivity of the tugs, and control and verification systems were adopted.
The ship’s run-out operation is carried out in coordination with the port authorities of Barranquilla and the sector’s unions.
There is also an environmental contingency plan, with the study and technical file of each of the nine chemical products that the ship transports and the actions to be taken in the event of any type of risk, such as the location of special barriers.
The director of the Association of Atlantic Ports (Asoportuaria), Lucas Ariza, assured that the union has requested that this operation be carried out continuously so that restrictions on navigation in the access channel are not extended too long and that the Port it is not closed permanently.
However, he clarified that this has not yet been defined as the details of the operation are being finalized. “Due to the sensitivity of the maneuver and the product that the ship transports, it is best to suspend the operation for a time, but we still do not know how long it will be. This will be known once the evaluation is completed, “he added.
The union leader said that the operation of the Barranquilla port area is proceeding normally and that there are ships scheduled to transit. He stressed that there are no night maneuvers.
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