Page 49: of Marine News Magazine (June 2014)

SALVAGE & RESPONSE December 25th, would continue unabated, 12 hours per day, for 79 days. With winter weather in the form of heavy wind and sea conditions impacting the area of Palmyra Atoll and King- man Reef the work plan was quickly adjusted to Þ t the conditions on location. The original plan called for the work at Kingman Reef to be completed as the Þ rst phase of the recovery project. The decision was made to com- mence work immediately at Palmyra and await more fa- vorable conditions at Kingman. The channel between the HUI FENG and open wa- ter was once more surveyed and marked with temporary ß oats. Vessel operators trained in a deepwater mock-up of the gauntlet-style transit path with hairpin turns through shallow water coral heads in order to perfect operations in PalmyraÕs unpredictable conditions. The Flexiß oat barges and jack up legs were carefully assembled, moved into po- sition, and jacked up into position adjacent to the wreck. Working with exothermic underwater cutting systems the Global dive team dissected the HUI FENG into sec- tions which were lifted from the sea by the crane on the jack up platform and loaded onto the power scows for transport to the barges waiting in open water. Almost im- mediately, it became apparent that the HUI FENG had been heavily modiÞ ed and was of unusual construction with odd layers of steel interspersed with concrete, foam, wood, and steel beams. The crew also found remnants of fuel and engine oils trapped in spaces within the wreck. As work wound down on the Palmyra wrecks, the crew then turned their focus on Kingman Reef where the work consisted of recovering the burned remains of a Þ shing ves- sel aground in the surf and the scattered pieces of the vessel on shore and underwater on the reef ß at and within the interior lagoon. Faced with a marginal weather forecast the tug SARAH C sailed to Kingman Reef on January 4 to commence the re- covery. Sea conditions on site were not favorable for this yet the crew, working in dangerous surf conditions for this and subsequent Kingman operations, were able to recover, by hand, an estimated 44,000 pounds of debris from the reef. The project involved the removal and disposal of near- ly a million pounds of debris consisting of large piles of rusted steel, Þ berglass, wood, concrete and other materials. Susan White, the USFWSÕs project leader for the removal effort, said the debris was Òthe equivalent of 67 large el- ephants or 31 city buses and was removed to protect some of the worldÕs most pristine coral reefs.Ò In total, 618,350 pounds of debris and 605 gallons of hydrocarbons were recovered from the HUI FENG, Rust Island resulted in the recovery of 278,000 pounds of iron and debris - a substantial amount of which was picked up by hand using buckets and totes - and the work at King- man Reef removed an estimated 44,000 pounds of iron, teak and Þ berglass from the reef. With the shipwrecks removed the recovery work at Pal- myra Atoll and Kingman Reef National Wildlife Refuges has already begun, as the crews of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and their volunteers work to remove the nearly 740 acre infestation of corallimorph from the reef at Palmyra and the invasive algae attacking the reefs at Kingman. The shipwreck removal operation, an unusual project by any yardstick, was declared a success by all involved. Working in the remote location with limited resources and the hostile environment of the reef for 79 days without incident, the salvage team combined to cooperate and overcome the enormous challenges the project delivered. Remarkably, the salvage team left the reef in a better con- dition than they found it. ThatÕs not always the case. But then again, this wasnÕt just any job, either. Kerry Walsh serves Global as a Salvage Master and Marine Casualty Project Manager. He has more than 30 years experience in the maritime industry centered on broad spectrum marine salvage and commercial diving operations. Notable projects include the deep water tank truck recovery operation conducted in Robson Bight, the oil recovery from the Princess Kathleen, the deep water assessment of the Montebello and the recovery of the F/V Deep Sea, foundered in the sensitive waters of Whidbey Island, Washington. MN 49www.marinelink.com MN June14 Layout 32-49.indd 49MN June14 Layout 32-49.indd 495/20/2014 10:25:24 AM5/20/2014 10:25:24 AM