Grounded Bulker Los Llanitos to Be Taken to Pieces at Spot

The 71,665 dwt bulk carrier Los Llanitos will most likely be dismantled where it ran aground near Mexico’s Barra de Navidad on October 23 during Hurricane Patricia, the Mexican government said.

After necessary inspections of the vessel were conducted, the authorities came up with four possible scenarios of solving the situation.

The authorities considered refloating the vessel and repairing it in one piece, however, due to the degree of detoriation, this option was not possible.

Other options included refloating the ship in two parts, which would bear a high risk of breaking the hull of the vessel, also dismantling the ship at the spot, or leaving it in place to be slowly eroded by the sea, creating an artificial reef.

Mexican Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) said that the first option would be to dismantle the vessel in place.

At the beginning of November of 2015, two weeks after the vessel ran aground, the authorities launched technical activities aimed at removal of hazardous waste and transfer of around 425,000 liters of fuel and about 11,484 liters of oil from the Mexican-flagged bulk carrier, which were concluded at the end of November.

At the time of the incident the vessel, which was on its way from Manzanillo, was carrying twenty seven crew members, who were safely airlifted by Mexican navy’s helicopter.

World Maritime News Staff