Tugboats Can't Pull Cargo Ship Stuck Off Ensenada
 Sandra Dibble - Union-Tribune
| | Sea Victory is one of seven tugboats pulling at full force in an effort to free the container ship APL Panama, mired off the port of Ensenada since Dec. 25. (John Gibbins/Union-Tribune) |
Ensenada – A container ship and its cargo remained stranded in the surf south of the harbor yesterday, despite major efforts by a half-dozen tugboats over the past four days to pull its bow away from shore.
Salvage workers are hoping for greater success next week with powerful hydraulic pulling machines that are being sent from the United States, according to the owners of the 880-foot APL Panama, who were reached by telephone in Bremen, Germany.
"As soon as they are on the scene, we should be able to move the ship," said Jens Meier-Hedde, managing director of Mare Britannicum Schiffahrtsgesellschaft MBH & Co., which owns the ship.
The APL Panama became grounded Dec. 25 as it prepared to enter the port of Ensenada. It was on a regularly scheduled trans-Pacific route that led from Oakland to Mexico, then Japan, Taiwan and China. Pushed by surf and hemmed in by sand, the vessel had become increasingly stuck.
This week, workers from Titan Maritime LLC, a Florida company specializing in marine salvage, made a major push to float the vessel, taking advantage of lunar high tides.
The challenge has been daunting. The vessel, which weighs about 15,000 tons, is carrying nearly 30,000 tons of cargo, Meier-Hedde said.
Seven tugboats pulling at full force yesterday morning – a combined capacity of more than 40,000 horsepower – moved the bow a few more yards away from shore, and they are expected to repeat their efforts today.
"The principle is that very slowly, as she rolls, each time she displaces sand, the tugs pull, the ship is moved so it occupies that space," said Michael Mallin, an attorney for Titan and its parent company, Crowley Maritime Corp.
The massive effort that began Tuesday has been partially successful. The bow has moved 20 degrees away from shore, about a fifth of the way that is needed to pull it toward open water, Meier-Hedde said.
The salvage crews hoped that the tugboats would be able to do the job. But hydraulic pullers are being brought down on a special barge that was sent from Seattle. The barge, 400 feet long and 100 feet wide, is at R.E. Staite Engineering marine contractors in National City, where workers have been preparing to send it to Ensenada.
In Ensenada, government officials have followed the salvage efforts closely. The city's commercial port has seen its business rise by 75 percent over the past year, and officials say it has been unaffected by the incident.
Yesterday, a top official from Mexico's Communications and Transportation Ministry, the director of its Merchant Marine division, was expected to arrive in Ensenada. He was to partake in the daily meeting at the Ensenada harbor master's office that includes representatives of the salvage company, the shippers and various government agencies.
Concerned about a possible spill, officials ordered all fuel removed from the APL Panama. Salvage workers complied this week, removing some 3,000 tons, said Ensenada's harbor master, Capt. José Luis Rios Hernández.
Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com |
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News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2006 
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