Boskalis Sustainability Report 2020

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leaked into the ocean, causing environmental damage to that part of the coastline.

Richard Robertson, General Manager Salvage in Cape Town: “With a team of thirty people, we took every opportunity to get the remaining oil off board as quickly as possible. It was a race against the clock, first complicated by COVID-19 and subsequently by bad weather, high waves and shallow depth. On days when the weather was favorable, we brought a vessel alongside for pumping; when the weather was bad, we pumped the oil to large barrels on deck and removed those by helicopters. In close cooperation with local people and the government of Mauritius, we managed to get most of the fuel off the vessel safely.” With the inevitable breaking up of the vessel, a further disaster was looming. If the large bow section of the vessel would separate from the grounded stern section, the bow would float to the coast and cause further damage to the reef and shoreline. It was therefore crucial to establish a towline connection. This connection was established by the salvage team with a waterproof ‘splash drone’. “The difficult conditions made it impossible to use our traditional compressed air riffle approach,” says Richard. “The drone was used to hand a line to our colleagues on the BOKA Expedition vessel, some 30 meters in front of the Japanese carrier. This was our first ever drone assisted towline hookup. With the bow safely connected to the BOKA Expedition, we were able to transfer the bow section of the vessel to a safe location, preventing any further damage to the coastline.” Complex salvage operation: the New Diamond The salvage operation of the very large crude carrier New Diamond, which suffered an explosion and fire in its engine room in September off the coast of Sri Lanka, was one of our most complex projects of the year, according to Operations Director Salvage, Berend Jan Zonneveld: “The tanker, some 300 meters long, was on its way from Kuwait to Sri Lanka with a cargo of 275,000 tons of crude oil when there was a fire in the engine room. As the combined coastguards of Sri Lanka and India launched a firefighting operation, we immediately started to prepare a rescue. We mobilized several firefighting vessels, and, anticipating international COVID-19 regulations, put together a large, international salvage team from our branches in South Africa, Singapore and Rotterdam. Our priority was to make sure the vessel remained intact and afloat, and to stop the spread of the fire, which could otherwise have caused major environmental damage.” equipment was mobilized from the Boskalis distribution center in the Netherlands. “Salvage divers checked the condition of the hull and made necessary repairs,” explains Berend Jan. “An oil screen was placed around the ship to prevent environmental damage as a result of leaks. After our naval architects developed a pumping plan, the specialist ship-to-ship transfer of the cargo to two tankers commenced in November.” Thanks to the motivation and perseverance of our 30-strong salvage team, and other colleagues who worked on these extensive operations, the salvage operations came to a successful completion early 2021. Once the fire had been extinguished, we towed the vessel to an anchorage near the port of Kalba, in the UAE; pumping

SALVAGE IN ACTION Drones used in salvage operation on Mauritius

On 23 July 2020, the Japanese bulk carrier Wakashio hit a coral reef off the coast of Mauritius and soon began leaking oil into the Indian Ocean. Following severe weather conditions the vessel broke into pieces within a matter of weeks. Our salvage team succeeded in removing around 3,000 tons of fuel under extreme weather circumstances. Thanks to our efforts, we prevented approximately 85 percent of the bunker fuel on board from entering the ocean; however, an estimated 800 tons of fuel still

SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2020 – BOSKALIS