Resolve Marine Group has developed its own wireless communications system to assist the refloat and towage of a wreck in the Middle East.
The specialised wifi system enabled a tug to remotely monitor bulk cement carrier Raysut II during salvage and towage operations in Q1 and April 2019 to ensure there were no cargo discharges or stability issues.
To remotely monitor the wreck during the voyage, salvors installed seven submersible pumps in the engineroom and cargo void spaces for vessel stability. These had automatic start-ups that were activated by a high-level sensor.
A live feed was sent to Resolve Monarch by wifi, enabling salvors on the tug to monitor the condition of Raysut II remotely.
On 26 May 2018, Raysut II lost headway and steerage in adverse weather conditions shortly after leaving the port of Salalah, in the Sultanate of Oman, when the port was evacuated.
Partially loaded with around 6,750 tonnes of dry powdered cement, the ship grounded on Al-Fazayah Beach, Oman, which is a known nesting area for endangered sea turtles. The turtles lay their eggs between April and August, with eggs hatching around two months after they are laid.
Resolve Marine won the contract to refloat the wreck several months later, in November 2018, and mobilised salvage and wreck removal tug Resolve Monarch and crane barge RMG 1000 from Singapore, which reached Oman in January 2019. In February, Resolve Marine patched up the wreck and refloated it with the cargo on board.
Resolve Monarch towed the wreck to the port of Salalah, where the bulk of the cargo was discharged in advance of the peak sea turtle migration.
When the wreck was in port, its cement pumping system was reactivated and modified so the cement cargo could be directly discharged into closed road tankers to avoid dust pollution. Raysut II was delivered as a constructive total loss on 11 April and subsequently recycled.
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