Wrecked LPG Freighter Removed from Taiwan Strait [PHOTOS]
Following four months of challenging operations and weather delays, RESOLVE Salvage & Fire, (ASIA) Pte Ltd. has announced completion of the wreck removal of the freighter LPG OBERON from the Taiwan Strait. The Oberon, loaded with volatile Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) 1- Butene, had grounded and sustained extensive hull damage early this year, seven miles from the Penghu archipelago and 30 miles northwest of Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
RESOLVE’s salvage plan was favored by the owners and underwriters because the wreck removal proposal included the task of first removing the hazardous LPG cargo, an environmentally sound approach that involved transfer of the gas to another LPG carrier before the wreck removal operation could begin. Initially, there were many areas on the wreck where RESOLVE teams worked in lower explosive level (LEL ) conditions. Until the leaking LPG was entirely removed from the vessel tanks, Oberon posed a threat of explosion and severe environmental damage to the ecosystem and reefs as well as local populations and fishing villages in the vicinity of the wreck.
Both the LPG removal and wreck removal operations were delayed throughout the 88 -day operation by nine typhoons which passed through the region. Upon completion of the LPG removal, RESOLVE proceeded to dismantle the vessel, remove the LPG tanks intact and then cut up the vessel and remove the wreckage from the Taiwan Strait. The wreckage and the salvaged LPG tanks were taken to Tongliang Yard in Penghu, for scrap and sale respectively.
Stranded LPG OBERON in early 2012
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Aerial view of gas removal operation with stranded Oberon in foreground, and barge and receiving daughter vessel at a safe distance.
STS transfer of 1-Butene, inerting and gas freeing operations using a hose bridge from stranded vessel Oberon (far right and in foreground left) to daughter vessel by way of a barge with transfer compressors, in May 2012.
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RESOLVE Salvage & Fire (ASIA) Pte Ltd. is the Singapore-based subsidiary of RESOLVE Marine Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in marine salvage and emergency response, firefighting, OPA-90 emergency response, wreck removal, maritime safety and simulation training and a wide range of marine services including naval architecture and marine engineering.
RESOLVE is presently reducing the bow section of the RENA container vessel wreck on the Astrolabe Reef, New Zealand. Earlier this year, RESOLVE completed the removal of 10 vessel wrecks in Kankesanthurai Harbour on the northern tip of Sri Lanka. In 2010, RESOLVE responded to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and managed a massive, six-month oil spill cleanup operation spanning locations throughout the Gulf of Mexico.
In response to the U.S. Oil Pollution Act of 1990, RESOLVE established itself as a leading primary resource provider of Salvage & Marine Firefighting services for tanker and non- tank vessels trading in U.S. waters. RESOLVE is a joint venture partner in Shanghai Resolve-Shengmin OSRO Company, a leading Ship Pollution Response Organization (SPRO) serving the international shipping industry in China waters.