First section of Tricolor raised

BBC online ^ | 4 august 2003 | BBC staff

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First section of Tricolor raised

The stern, weighing 3,000 tons, is the first section to be raised

The first section of a freight ship which sank in the English Channel last year has been raised to the surface.

The 190 metre-long Tricolor has been a major obstacle to shipping in the Channel since it sank about 30 miles off Kent in December.

The 20,000 ton ship was carrying a cargo of luxury cars when it sank after colliding with the container ship Kariba.

Click here to see a graphic showing how the Tricolor will be raised

It is being raised in nine sections, with work beginning on 18 July and the first section being brought to the surface on Sunday.

The ship is being carved into the separate sections using a special cutting cable, which was also used to cut the nose of the sunken Russian submarine The Kursk before that was raised in 2001.

£25m operation

More than 100 people have been involved in the operation to hoist the stern of the Tricolor, which was carrying BMWs, Saabs and Volvos.

How the Tricolor will be raised - and how it sank

Weighing 3,000 tons and measuring 30 metres by 35 metres, it is the largest single piece which will be raised in the £25m operation to lift the sunken ship.

The sections of the ship will each be taken to the Belgian port of Zeebrugge on giant barges after they are brought to the surface.

It is thought they will only be able to be used for scrap metal.

Two large floating cranes and six boats, including a diving support vessel, are being used in the project.

The work is being carried out by a combine team of Dutch and Belgian salvage firms under the name Combinatie Salvage Tricolor.

Giant floating cranes are being used in the £25m operation

Lars Walder, spokesman for the Dutch company Smit Salvage, said: "It's not an easy operation, it's one of the biggest vessels ever to be lifted.

"It's in the middle of the sea. Although the weather conditions are perfect, it's very difficult.

"It will take the whole summer and we think it will be finished in September.

"The cars will be scrapped. There were some in the stern today - a few fell out but we will pick them up later."

He said there had been a leakage of about 2,000 litres of oil but said it was almost inevitable and that they had a special oil recovery ship alongside.

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With any luck no one runs into the salvage ships.

[Physicist]

It has now been renamed the "Trickler", at least as long as the water runs out of it.

[gridlock]

So, which section did they raise today, the Blue one, the Red one, or the White one?

[js1138]

Who gets the cars, and what happend to the boatload of Jaguars?

[texas booster]

Why the cars will all end up sold for scrap. I am sure that no enterprising person will clean out the cars and resell them as (nearly) new.

Check eBay in about a year, maybe sooner.

[KarlInOhio]

So if you buy a Jag which has electrical problems, you'll have to suspect it's one of these?

[texas booster]

Electrical problems? Now that Ford owns Jaguar, how will anyone know the difference?

[ThirdMate]

The ship and cargo have already been declared a total loss. Not only have the cars been immersed in seawater for 8 months, they all shifted to one side when the ship capsized and are in a crushed heap. Not to mention what that diamond coated cutting cable will do to them!

[ThirdMate]

This is a very expensive loss, 30mil for salvage, 50 mil for cargo, throw in another 50mil for the ship, and who knows what amount of environmental damage will be claimed.

It will be years before this is all settled. A third vessel was involved in the collision, M/V Clary, a Singapore tanker was approaching west bound, the east bound Kariba was ahead of the east bound Tricolor, who was apparantly overtaking Kariba on Kariba's starboard side. Kariba turned hard to starboard and struck the port quarter of Tricolor. Visibility was about one mile in fog. Tricolor was crewed by a Norwegian captain and 22 filipino crew.

Filipino Monkey! Come get your Bannana!

[Quilla]

A third vessel was involved in the collision, M/V Clary, a Singapore tanker was approaching west bound, the east bound Kariba was ahead of the east bound Tricolor, who was apparantly overtaking Kariba on Kariba's starboard side. Kariba turned hard to starboard and struck the port quarter of Tricolor. Visibility was about one mile in fog. Tricolor was crewed by a Norwegian captain and 22 filipino crew.

Sounds right out of the Clive Cussler/Kurt Austin book I'm reading, Serpent.

[ThirdMate]

Is it new? Is it good?

[Rockpile]

I must have missed the part of the story where they stated the depth.

Anyway, can you just imagine what would be seen if the waters around this part of Europe could be drained away?

[Quilla]

It is the first of the series of Austin novels by Cussler published in 1999. As a die hard Dirk Pitt fan (Cussler's most famous character), I reluctantly started on the Austin series after another freeper recommended them. Yes, it is quite good.

[ThirdMate]

Is Kirk Austin related to Steve Austin?

[ThirdMate]

"Anyway, can you just imagine what would be seen if the waters around this part of Europe could be drained away?"

Bones of sailors.

[Quilla]

I had to do a google search on Steve Austin. Nope, no relation, although they both seem to be fictional characters. :)

[ThirdMate]

Thanks for the tip. I will look for the book.

[Darksheare]

Why not?
Chrysler reshuffled some inventory back in the 80's after some cars in a southern state suffered flood damage.
The cars were written off, cleaned (mostly) and sold as new in New Jersey.
One car specifically, an '83 LeBaron, was sold to my parents.
It ended up catching on fire in the driveway and melting the tranny into slag.

[texas booster]

Reselling cars that have been in a flood seems to be old hat anymore.

After the Mississippi floods, there were loud warnings in the local fishwrap about "inscrupulous" parties buying these new aquariums at car auctions. Goal was to clean and sell them before registration was changed. We also has a rash of cars that had two halves welded together, which tended to break apart if the new owner had another wreck.

Maybe now with the Internet we will be able to research vehicles that have sunk before sale.

If the cars are so damaged that restoration in unlikely, as per ThirdMate's info, then all we have to look out for is Albanians criminal gangs entering the auto parts market suddenly. Or Russian gangs, or Travelers, or Pakistani, or Syrian ....

[Darksheare]

True.
It seems that we have a pretty good info net here at FR, I'm sure one of us somewhere will get a 'hit' on it if something like that does happen.