Team Herald
PANJIM: Though the State had finalised Dutch company Marine Masters to pump out the naphtha from the ill-fated Nu-Shi Nalini, the work order to the company will be delayed by another week or so, the CMO said on Wednesday.
The release from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s office stated, “Today (Wednesday) evening, the committee met the CM, Goa and briefed him about the action taken and finalisation of its report.”
The release went on to state that the work will be awarded to a ‘professional salvor’ after approval of the committee’s recommendation by the inter-ministerial committee at Government of India level, possibly within a week. This means the work would begin a fortnight from now.
The release further stated that the ship is still aground at the same position as reported earlier. “For the safety of the ship’s cargo containers, the cargo tanks are daily inerted by nitrogen to keep the level of oxygen low. The ship is still encircled with booms to contain any possible oil spill,” the release said.
On November 3, after preparation, a trial run was conducted to remove naphtha. However, it was abandoned when some shuddering sound was noticed in the tug boats. The team could not succeed in placing any vessel/barge due to difficulty in manoeuvring the tug and barge in the shallow water.
After the initial failures, on November 4, the Government of India decided to hire ‘professional salvors’.
The Ministry of Shipping constituted a committee comprising Chief Secretary, Goa; Additional Secretary, Shipping, DG, Shipping, and Chairman, MPT. After inspecting the ship, two international salvage firms participated in the bid process – SMIT Salvage Pte Ltd, Singapore and Marine Masters B V. However, SMIT Salvage backed out on Tuesday.
