Following a four-month tender process, Shanghai Salvage Company (SSC) has been chosen to remove the ill-fated containership Kea Trader from a rock reef near New Caledonia in the south Pacific.
A detailed methodology for the recovery operation was approved by the authorities last month. Under the plan, the ship’s hull pieces would be lifted and removed intact from the reef as a way of protecting the marine environment.
SSC expects to have resources on site within 30 days prior to an exchange of responsibilities with Ardent, which is presently undertaking cargo removal and anti-pollution operations to ensure the safeguards to the environment are maintained during the transition period, Lomar Shipping, the owner of the vessel, informed.
The 2,194-TEU containership ran aground six months after its delivery from Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard in China. It had been sailing from Papeete, in French Polynesia, to Nouméa in New Caledonia, loaded with 756 container units and a further 26 flat-racks, when it got grounded.