Onlookers having a look at the grounded ship in Visakhapatnam. Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam
Santosh Patnaik
Visakhapatnam: A massive exercise has been launched to prevent oil spillage from
M.V. Maa, a Bangladeshi cargo ship which ran aground near a beachfront park here recently when deep depression crossed near Kakinada.
The ship with a length of around 80 meters was at the Anchorage area since past few days at Visakhapatnam Port in ballast condition to load 2800 tonne of Quartzite for Port of Mongla.
On the fateful night of October 12, the ship parted her Anchor Chain and drifted ashore near Tenneti Park due to strong winds under the influence of the system in the Bay of Bengal. The vessel has 41 tonne of fuel oil and 9 tonne of diesel oil on-board.
The vessel owner’s Protection and Indemnity Club has appointed M.S. Gill Marine on October 13 to remove fuel oil from the vessel.
It is reported that M.S. Gill Marine has obtained permission from the authorities concerned to take up the work.
As there was no access road to the site of the grounded vessel, a temporary road was laid by the vendor on Thursday to mobilise men and material.
An official of Visakhapatnam Port Trust said the port deputed its own Oil Spill Response Equipment with a dedicated team to the site to cater to any untoward oil pollution threat around the vessel.
He said it might take two to three days to transfer the oil from the grounded ship to the shore.
In the meantime, the owner of the vessel has appointed M.S. Resolve Marine Pvt. Ltd. to undertake the salvage operation to re-float the vessel, which can be initiated only after removal of oil from the vessel to avoid any risk of oil spillage.
All the 15 Bangladeshi crew are still on-board. M.S. Gill Marine has provided a generator to the vessel, as the vessel is in blackout condition.
