On the 15th August, the Polish inland, motor freight vessel, West Oder 1, collided with the Dutch inland vessel Timbo in the Weser river near Nienburg, Germany. Unfortunately, the Polish vessel subsequently sank.
Wagenborg was called on to salvage the sunken vessel.
The divers inspected the underwater hull of the West Oder early in the week and prepare a salvage plan to send the equipment to Germany.
Prior to the salvage, Wagenborg performed oil-response actions to prevent possible oil spills. The salvage work was set to start last Sunday immediately as soon as the 300-ton sheerlegs ‘Triton’, the support vessel ‘Waterpeil’ and the crane vessel ‘IJsvogel’ would arrive.
On Saturday, the crane vessel ‘IJsvogel’ was commissioned by Wagenborg to lighten the ship by unloading the 600 tons of maize. On Sunday the floating crane ‘Triton’ and the support vessel ‘Waterpeil’ were used to refloat the ship.
First, the engine room was pumped out and then the hold. As soon as there came more water out of the ship than was coming in, the ship started floating again in the night from Sunday to Monday. After this, the ship was made ready to sail again and moored at Nienburg.
The entire salvage work was completed within 24 hours, considerably faster than the original schedule. The waterway has now been opened to traffic.
