Salvage on hold until arrival of 2nd crane ship

THE UNITED States Navy will start dismantling the grounded USS Guardian piece by piece from the Tubbataha Reef once a second crane ship arrives, according to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).

PCG chief Rear Adm. Rodolfo Isorena yesterday said they were still waiting for the second crane ship, the Jascon 25, which is expected to arrive from Singapore on Feb. 15.

Isorena said the salvage operation would start as soon as the ship gets to Tubbataha.

Lt. Commander Armand Balilo, the PCG spokesperson, said the salvage operation would also depend on the weather which he hoped would improve this week.

The salvage team on the crane ship will use power tools and other equipment to cut the 68-meter US Navy mine-countermeasure vessel into smaller parts, which would then be lifted by crane to another ship.

The salvage operation was supposed to start last week after the crane ship Smit Borneo arrived at the site on Feb. 5.

“Unfortunately, the Borneo encountered some problems,” prompting the team to wait for the arrival of the second crane ship, Balilo said in a phone interview.

Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista, PCG Palawan district chief, said last week the Borneo had started rigging its anchors, noting “there has to be precision in anchoring to make sure that its four anchors would land on the correct spots.”

Evangelista, who also heads Task Force Tubbataha, said the task force agreed to have the anchors lowered far from the damaged coral reefs.

“Ten meters from the edge of the reefs is a safe distance,” he said.

Earlier, Balilo said Coast Guard divers would make a “final assessment” of the Guardian’s damage to the reef once the ship is removed from the marine park which is a World Heritage Site.

“Within the week, PCG divers may check out the reefs anew to find out the extent of the damage,” he said.

“The ship’s rudder remains stuck (on the southern atoll of Tubbataha),” he said, adding that current sea conditions at the reef were not favorable to rubber and other small boats,

Aside from the Coast Guard, the Department of Transportation and Communications-led task force also groups the Navy, Philippine National Police, the nongovernment Tubbataha Reef Foundation and the Palawan provincial government.