MV Tricolor

P1

IMO number:. 8600181

The Tricolor was a car transporter with a carrying capacity of up to 6,030 cars, which was used by Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines worldwide mainly for the transportation of cars. The ship sank on 14 December 2002 after a collision with the container ship Kariba in the English Channel. Previously, he drove into charter of the Norwegian company Wilh. Wilhelmsen Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines for. The ship belonged to the Scottish Capital Bank Plc.

Collision

The Tricolor

Unfortunately time point, a total of 24 people were on board the Norwegian captain, a Swedish supercargo and 22 Filipino crew members. In addition, 2,871 new cars, mainly BMW, Volvo and Saab, as well as 77 units were rolling cargo on board. In the fuel tanks were located 1,988 m³ of heavy oil and 167 cubic meters of diesel fuel.

The Kariba

The Kariba was a 1982 built, 20,829 gt presumptuous with container ship going at the time of the collision under the flag of the Bahamas. The ship was owned by the French company Delmas and has been used by its subsidiary, OT Africa Line in regular service to West Africa. The ship was scrapped in China in 2003.

Course

Against 02:15 clock on the morning of December 14, 2002 collided with the car transporter Tricolor and the container ship Kariba in thick fog. The Tricolor was on the way from Zeebrugge to Southampton, the Kariba drove from Antwerp to Le Havre. Both ships were in the traffic separation scheme in international waters. The Kariba was badly damaged in the collision, but was able to return on their own to Antwerp. The Tricolor, whose hull was on the port side of the bow of the Kariba also badly damaged, capsized to port and sank in about 30 minutes. All 24 people on board were rescued. Three sailors were picked up by the Kariba, the others were rescued by who had hurried to the scene Belgian tractor Boxter.

At the demise of the Tricolor first came out no oil. However, to avoid contamination of the environment by oil pollution, the Dutch company Smit Salvage has been entrusted with the pumping of water present in the tanks of the Tricolor oil. The pumping of the oil began on 23 December 2002. On the same day the ship was declared a total loss. A day later, on 24 December 2002, the salvage of the wreck was located on the French side. France was responsible, as the ship in the economic zone of France had fallen.

Since the water at the crash site was only about 30 feet deep, the wreck was an obstacle to navigation in the English Channel. At low tide the starboard side of the ship sticking out of the water. As a result, two cargo ships collided with the wreck, first on 16 December, sailing under the flag of the Netherlands Antilles Nicola, on 1 January 2003, a sailing under the Turkish flag OBO carriers Vicky. The Nicola, who was without a load on the way to Rotterdam, was pulled from the wreck of the Tricolor only after several hours of two tugs. The loaded with 70,000 tonnes of kerosene Vicky was able to free itself after a few hours. During the collision with the wreck of Nicola leaked no oil came out of the Vicky oil from the fuel tanks of the vessel in the collision. The holds were undamaged.

Finally, on January 23, collided still one of the salvage tug with the wreck.

Salvage

On 25 February 2003, the largest portion of the oil was pumped from the tanks of the Tricolor. The remains should be pumped out and collected during the salvage of the wreck. During the work several times came from oil from the wreck that led to the coasts of France, Belgium and the Netherlands to contamination.

For salvaging the Tricolor SMIT Salvage BV the company, the consortium " Combinatie Berging Tricolor " was founded, (Netherlands), Scaldis Salvage & Marine Contractors NV (Belgium ), URS Salvage & Marine Contractors N.V. (Belgium) and Multraship Salvage B. V. (Netherlands) belonged.

Since the wreck could not be lifted as a whole, it was divided into nine parts, and these were individually lifted with the help of floating cranes on pontoons. Subsequently, the pontoons were towed to Zeebrugge, where the wreckage was scrapped. For the severing of the wreck a wire saw was used; this was carried out by two research platforms from under the hull.

A part of the wreck was cut through to September 2003 and raised in several steps. Bad weather disabled again and again the recovery, so that the action could not be completed as planned in October. In November 2003, the recovery has been canceled. Until then, five of the nine sections of the wreck were only lifted. Bad weather had hampered increasingly the work, which were resumed on 15 May 2004. As the four left behind at the blast site sections were collapsed during the winter break, they could no longer, as in the previous year, to be recovered as a whole. The wreckage of the ship and cargo were lifted in the coming months with the help of excavators from the seabed. The manufacturers of those luxury vehicles that were, along with the wreckage of the ship also managed to Zeebrugge to be scrapped, begged the salvage company to be discreet. The automaker feared a reputational damage if the images would go from dented or sawed limousines around the world. Therefore, the salvage company should, wherever possible, press photographers and cameramen away.

On 27 October 2004, the recovery of the Tricolor was finally finished. The value of the vessel was with about 40 million euros, which indicated the cargo on board the ship with about 49 million euros.

The Tricolor was one of the largest wrecks that had to be eliminated ever. In the recovery experiences could be used, the SMIT Salvage has already gained in the recovery of the Kursk in September 2001.