Salvage Teams Making Progress Removing Boxes and Fuel from MSC Baltic III

The Canadian Coast Guard reports the salvage teams working at the site of the grounded containership MSC Baltic III are continuing to make progress. They highlight that it remains an ongoing operation that is expected to take time.

Weather which had been a factor during the winter and early spring has improved giving the teams easier access to the vessel. In addition, one of the local mayors reported a light vehicle road was expected to be completed this week to give access for personnel into the remote area on the western shore of Newfoundland. The road is not for the removal of material from the ship.

Container removal has also begun in part to give the teams more access including to fuel tanks that they have so far not been able to reach. The Canadian Coast Guard reports approximately half of the heavy fuel has been removed in a process of heating it and pumping it to storage tanks placed on the deck of the vessel. It is then pumped into tanks on a barge and moved to Corner Brook where it is being loaded onto other MSC vessels. The Coast Guard estimates the vessel had approximately 1,600 metric tons of heavy fuel and marine gas oil onboard.

The ship grounded on the shore in a remote cove on February 15 after losing power in a winter storm. The crew was airlifted by helicopter to safety. The salvage operation has been ongoing for three months.

The salvage team placed a cargo ship, EEMS Dublin, alongside. The 6,000 dwt open hatch vessel can come alongside. It has provided a walk-to-work platform to reach the MSC Baltic III. Also, images show a crane vehicle has been put on the vessel that is being used to hoist containers from the MSC Baltic III to the deck of EEMS Dublin. The Canadian Coast Guard reports as of this week 115 containers have been removed, which is about a quarter of the boxes that were on the vessel when it grounded.

Initially, a few boxes with plastics and potential pollutants were removed. Now they are removing more boxes for access. The ship had a total of 470 containers with reports that half were empties.

The Coast Guard said the focus remains on fuel removal and mitigating pollution. Previously it reported the discovery of a few tar balls on the shoreline thought to be coming from the ship. A Coast Guard spokesperson says that the team continues to monitor the shoreline and that there have recently been some minor observations of oil including a small number of tar balls of various sizes.

The ship has sustained significant hull damage with earlier reports that the engine room and cargo holds were flooded. The Canadian Coast Guard expects to continue to see small amounts of residual oil escape from the vessel over time.

To date, there have been no public comments on how the vessel might be removed from the shoreline. The Coast Guard has previously said with the damage it was not possible to remove the vessel at this time.