APL PANAMA

25 December 2005

GROUNDING

 

 

VESSEL & Interveners

   
       
1 - IMO Number : 9235074 2 - Name of Ship : APL PANAMA
3 - Call Sign : V2MK 4 - Gross Tonnage : 40 306
5 - Type of Ship : Container Ship 6 -Year of Build : 2000
7 - Flag : Antigua & Barbuda 8 -Status of Ship : In Service
       
9 -   Registred Owner : Mare Britannicum 10 - Address :
58-60, Am Wall, 
Bremen GERMANY
11 - Ship Manager :

Hansa Mare

12 - Address :
58-60, Am Wall, 
Bremen GERMANY
13 - Classification Society : GERMANISHER LLOYD 14 - P&I

WEST OF ENGLAND

15 - Surveyor :   16 - Sollicitor :  
17 - Hull Underwriters :   18 - Cargo Underwriters :  
19 - Others : TITAN, As Salvors 20 - Others : Sign on San Diego (local news paper) A lot of pictures available...
     

NB : Information 1 to 14 are extracted from the database EQUASIS. Information are updated at the date of the casualty.

Information from 15 to 20 were found on public websites

 

SUMMARY OF THE CASUALTY
 

 

The 25 December 2005, while she was trying to enter the port of Ensenda, the APL PANAMA grounded on the beach. At this time (one month after the casualty), the ship is still aground.

The master tried to enter the port without pilot.

 

 

LOCATION
 

 

p

Agrandir le plan

 

 

DAY TO DAY  
 

Date :

30 December 2005 Source : Cargo Law

 

Antigua & Barbuda flag, 40,306gt. M/V APL Panama, (built 2001) -grounded on sand Dec 25 while inbound to the Port of Ensenada. Master did not wait for port pilot & tugs -- she proceeded to enter port without them. M/V APL Panama ran aground on Ensenada Beach, outside breakwaters. No reports of heavy weather or fog. Two 5000-bhp Crowley tugs from Port of Los Angeles arrived today to try to free the vessel. All efforts to pull the vessel off the sandbank during high tide using services of tugs unfortunately failed. Discharge of some of the 900 TEUs on board being considered but will be difficult due to location of the vessel, in the middle of nowhere. She is aground 200 ft from beach on sandy bottom.

After running aground on Christmas Day, M/V APL Panama remains a colossal figure looming over the coast just south of the port of Ensenada, and a National City marine contractor has been retained to help free it. After unsuccessful attempts by three tugboats sent from Los Angeles to dislodge the ship and bring it afloat, the ship's owner contracted the Crowley Maritime Corp., a worldwide salvage company based in Florida, to float the vessel. Crowley then contacted RE Staite Engineering Inc. of National City, a marine construction company, on Dec. 29 requesting the company join the team in the effort to free the ship. Three more powerful tugs should have arrived in Ensenada by now, but 1st cargo must be unloaded from the ship via a sky crane & fuel oil needs to be pumped from the ship. Both will lighten the ship's load, thus making the tugboats' job feasible, but it will take time. Additionally, lines need to be attached to the newly arrived tugboats. Another factor in freeing the ship is the tide. During periods of high tide the ship almost floats; however, during low tide the result is the opposite. The recent high surf that Ensenada experienced also pushed the ship farther inland toward the coast as the tide rose. Initial reports said the crew didn't wait for the port pilot to guide them into the terminal before trying to bring the vessel into port -- but there is another story that denies this claim. (Thurs. Jan. 5 2006)

Officials believe it might take as much as a month to free the ship's hull & propellers from the sand. The 260-meter-long (850-foot-long) ship is laden with about 35,000 tons of cargo.

M/V APL Panama had left Oakland with 25 crew and was making its first stop in Ensenada. Its regularly scheduled route leads to other Mexican ports, then to stops in Japan, Taiwan and China.

She was on a regularly scheduled trans-Pacific loop from Oakland to Mexico, then Japan, Taiwan & China.

This incident is not a simple error in navigational judgment. Whatever the explanation, M/V APL Panama was literally driven onto the beach. A better job likely could not have been done if the action had been taken with intention. We do not suggest intention here -- but there is a yet untold story to explain this highly unusual event. It is said that the Captain declined assistance from an Esenada Harbor pilot -- an allegation currently denied by APL. Indeed, our sources from overseas suggest that something may have been amiss on the bridge.

Given required awareness on the command bridge when the vessel reached the Port of Ensenada -- or any vessel at any port of call -- we have never seen anything quite like this in clear weather.

The true story of M/V APL Panama has yet to either been told -- or paid for. The cost will be epic.

 

Date :

14 January 2006 Source :

Cargo Law

 

M/V APL Panama remains stranded in the surf, despite major efforts by a half-dozen tugboats over the past 4 days to pull her 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.

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. Seven tugboats pulling at full force Jan. 12 & endash; a combined capacity of more than 40,000 horsepower & endash; moved the bow a few more yards away from shore, and they are expected to repeat their efforts.

 

The massive effort that began Jan. 10, has been partially successful. The bow has moved 20 degrees away from shore, about a 5th of the way that is needed to pull it toward open water. 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. Concerned about a possible spill, officials ordered all fuel removed from M/V APL Panama.

 

Date :

19 January 2006 Source :

Cargo Law

 

Later this week, a barge fitted with powerful hydraulic pulling machines is expected to arrive in Ensenada to double the tugs' power. The goal is to have the machines in place during high tides later this month.

Just how M/V APL Panama ran aground remains the subject of speculation in Ensenada, as very little official information has been forthcoming. Port officials say they cannot discuss the case while it is under investigation by the Mexican Communications and Transportation Ministry.

Port officials say the vessel was scheduled to meet a Port Pilot to guide her into port at 7 p.m. She ran aground nearly 50 minutes earlier, at 6:12 p.m. on Christmas Day.

The vessel, carrying cargo from Oakland, had arrived earlier than scheduled, but the Captain had called ahead. An official said that "In my opinion, he was irritated that the pilot boat wasn't there, so he proceeded very slowly ahead, and unfortunately went too far and touched ground."

So the Capt. was "irritated" that the pilot was "late" -- but the vessel was almost 1 hour early. As a result of this faulty reasoning --the vessel is now very late indeed.

It is quite clear that that the Capt. may -- at his now enforced leisure -- consider the cost of his "irritation" on that Christmas Day. The bridge judgment rendered on Dec. 25 is hard to understand -- especially when coupled with the obvious sea-keeping shortcomings of the navigational decisions which put M/V APL Panama hard ashore on the Ensenada beach. Could this be "

 

Date :

20 & 21 January 2006 Source :

Cargo Law

 

It is learned that draft is 12mt. where red & black paint meet. at 2mt. to water - with 1.5mt. of water at the vessel & 8.5mt. of ship in sand. Geeez! Perhaps M/V APL Panama is better made a permanent resort.

Workers in recent days removed some 1,500 pounds of tainted sand from Conalep Beach, near a residential neighborhood south of the Ensenada port. Ship appears to have caused no significant environmental damage. The majority of the fuel on the vessel &endash; about 3,000 tons &endash; was pumped out last week at the request of Mexican officials, who have feared that damage to the vessel could result in a leak. Later this week, a barge fitted with powerful hydraulic pulling machines is expected to arrive in Ensenada to double the tugs' power.

 

Jan. 22 -- Work Continues

 

M/V APL Panama remains aground on soft sand 1.5 nm south E. of the entrance to the port of Ensenada, Mexico. Salvors have succeeded in maneuvering the bow of the vessel some 20 degrees towards deeper water over the past week, in order to assist the next re-floating effort. M/V APL Panama remains structurally intact & secure and it is hoped that another concerted effort to re-float her can be made toward the end of next week, when tide conditions are more favorable An enquiry into the grounding is being conducted by the Mexican authorities, with which the owners, "Mare Britannicum' Schiffahrtsgesellschaft mbH & Co+ KG, are fully cooperating. It is reported that yhe Owners would like to thank the Mexican authorities and the salvors who continue to successfully work towards a resolution of this issue in a safe and professional manner.

 

Date :

23 January 2006 Source :

Sign on San Diego

 

Testimony cites errors in grounding Fresh insight into Ensenada accident By Sandra Dibble UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER January 23, 2006 ENSENADA – After nightfall on Dec. 25, the 880-foot container vessel APL Panama was preparing to enter the port of Ensenada. It was dangerously close to shore, and moving too fast. No port pilot was on board to guide it. Last-minute efforts to avoid disaster came too late. At 6:12 p.m., on a night with good visibility, light breezes, smooth seas and swells over 6 feet, the APL Panama ran aground, 1.5 miles southeast of the port's entrance in the surf off a wide sandy beach. It has been stuck there ever since. There were no equipment failures – only human error – that led to the grounding, according to sworn testimony by the captain and first mate, obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune. As salvage crews launch their second major push to refloat the vessel later this week, the statements shed some light on what was happening on the bridge of the APL Panama as it ran aground. "In my view it was too high speed," said Teo Motusic, the vessel's first officer, and second-in-command, in testimony before port officials. "My opinion is that the captain did not come to the bridge on time." Motusic's declarations and those of the vessel's captain, Zupan Branko, paint a vivid picture of the half hour before the grounding and the desperate last-minute maneuvers that proved futile. The incident and efforts to float the ship have drawn widespread attention. The ship's sheer size – it is nearly as long as three football fields – overwhelms the landscape, and local residents have been flocking to see it. A taxi driver made television news last week, standing before the vessel as he sang a corrido telling its story. "It's something extraordinary, that you only see once in a lifetime," said Capt. José Luis Ríos Hernández, Ensenada's harbor master. The event has provoked curiosity from the marine community far beyond Ensenada. One Calfornia Web site features photos and comments, and London-based maritime insurance companies and shipping journals post regular updates on the salvage efforts. The players themselves are multinational. The vessel, sailing under an Antigua and Barbuda flag, is owned by a company based in Bremen, Germany, Mare Britannicum Schiffahrtgesellschaft mbH & Co KG, and chartered by a global transportation company, APL, which has corporate offices in Oakland. The 25 men on board were also an international group, with the captain and officers from Croatia, the first engineer from Poland and crew from Myanmar. The officers' statements for the first time lift the shroud of secrecy that has surrounded the incident. The ship's owners nor and Mexican officials have been unwilling to publicly offer details about the case, under investigation by Mexico's Communications and Transportation Ministry. It is being treated as an accident, and the captain and first mate have been allowed to leave the country. Carrying some 900 containers weighing 30,000 tons, the vessel was traveling from Oakland, preparing for a regularly scheduled call in Ensenada before making stops down the Mexican coast and then crossing the ocean to Japan, Taiwan and China. As is the practice in ports worldwide, ships are supposed enter the port of Ensenada only with a pilot on board. The pilot meets the vessel at an offshore location, in this case 2.3 miles west of the port entrance. Port officials say their records show the pilot was scheduled to meet the APL Panama at 7 p.m. The captain, Branko, said the crew told the ship's agent in Ensenada at noon the ship would arrive at 6 p.m., according to his sworn testimony given in the presence of his British attorney at the Ensenada harbor master's office. Dec. 31. The first mate, Motusic, in testimony on Jan. 2, said he tried to call the pilot on the radio from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. "but without success." As they approached the port, Motusic said he called the captain twice from the bridge. But the captain did not show up to take command until 5:42 p.m. Motusic said the captain was slow to react as he pointed out the buoys marking the channel's entrance, and the arriving pilot vessel. "The captain was all the time looking ahead, and he said, 'I still cannot see the pilot. Where is the pilot?' I told him and pointed, 'Captain, there is the pilot, there is the pilot!' " Motusic testified. The captain gave the order "hard to port wheel" – to turn right. Then, the pilot called and warned, "Captain, you are going to the shallow waters," according to Motusic's testimony. Under questioning from Ensenada's harbor master, Branko said it was his fourth time entering the port of Ensenada, and that all the equipment on board was functioning. It was not until 6:05 p.m. that he realized the vessel was in danger, he said. Seven minutes later it ran aground. "Why did you not drop any of the anchors?" the harbor master asked. "I did not consider that possibility because it was a very short time span," Branko replied. Asked what he could have done to prevent the accident the first officer, Motusic, replied: "Everything happened very, very fast, and I was showing the captain the position of the buoys, the channel, pilot boat and breakwater."

 

Date :

28 January 2006 Source :

Sign on San Diego

 

'I just couldn't believe it' Frantic efforts to halt errant ship recalled By Sandra Dibble STAFF WRITER January 28, 2006 ENSENADA – As six tugboats and hydraulic pullers heaved yesterday at the bow of the stranded container vessel APL Panama, a port pilot spoke publicly for the first time about the desperate last-minute efforts to keep it from running aground more than a month ago. “I saw the lights and I couldn't believe it, I just couldn't believe it,” said Ramírez in an interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune. “I told the tugboats, 'Leave the port, because the ship is about to run aground.' ” The vessel has been stuck since Christmas along a sandy beach south of the port. Salvage crews reported moderate success in freeing it yesterday and were scheduled to continue work today and tomorrow, taking advantage of high tides. The ship has been parallel to the shore for weeks, but when it ran aground it was nearly perpendicular to land, and it might have been towed away then, Ramírez said. Precious moments might have been lost because the ship's captain initially refused assistance. “I suggested to him that we get the tugboat Coral and send it a line so that it could try to keep (the APL Panama) at that position” perpendicular to shore, Ramírez said. A second tugboat was to push from the starboard side. “The captain said he didn't want to give the line, that he couldn't because that would mean it was salvage” and would prompt a host of legal problems, Ramírez said. Close to half an hour had passed before Capt. Zupan Branko agreed to give a line so the tugboat could pull, but by then it was too late, Ramírez said. The waves and currents were pushing the ship into the shore, and by the next morning, it was parallel to the beach and much more difficult to move. From the beginning, there has been little information about the grounding made public. Port officials have said they cannot discuss it until a formal report is issued, but transcripts of sworn testimony by the vessel's captain and first officer obtained last week by the Union Tribune and the Ensenada newspaper El Vigía point to human error. Ramírez, the port pilot, said his office had received a notice Dec. 24 from the shipping company's agent to meet the APL Panama at 6:30 p.m. Just after 6 p.m., he made radio contact with the vessel. “I said, 'I will meet you at the pilot boarding station as usual,' ” Ramírez said. However, the vessel's records show it had already passed the pilot station and was moving into restricted waters where ships are required to have a pilot aboard, Ramírez said. By Ramírez's calculations, the vessel was moving at an average of 7 knots as it approached shore – far too fast. A month later, Ramírez said he cannot forget the sight of the vessel's lights crossing in front of him a mile away. Because the grounding has been ruled an accident, Branko and Motusic have been allowed to leave Mexico. The ship's German owners initially blamed the grounding on strong currents. Jens Meier-Hedde, managing director for the company, Mare Britannicum Schiffahrtsgesellschaft MBH & Co., later said Branko was irritated because the pilot was not there to meet him at what he believed was the appointed time. “The cause of the grounding was neither the wind, nor the current nor the visibility, nor the tide,” Ramírez said. “All of the conditions for entering the port were normal.” The owners have hired Titan Maritime LLC to float the ship. Efforts in the middle of January using six tugboats succeeded in moving the bow 20 degrees toward open water. A second major push is taking place this weekend, as a barge fitted with hydraulic pullers has doubled the capacity of the tugboats. The company has also installed a giant hose that will be used to blow away sand accumulating around the keel of the vessel like a wall. Titan reported moderate success yesterday – the blower was not yet working – with the hull moving an additional three to four degrees. “Perhaps if Monday there is no result with the current plans, we'll have to go to a new phase and remove the containers,” said Capt. José Luis Rios Hernández, Ensenada's harbor master.

 

Date :

9 February  2006 Source :

Sign on San Diego

 

Jetty first is built to stranded ship

By Sandra Dibble

The container vessel APL Panama, stranded since Christmas Day off an Ensenada beach, now has its own jetty.

Salvors commissioned the 500-foot rock-and-sand ramp and hired a giant crane to carry containers ashore. The operation is the latest in a series of attempts to lighten the ship's load and get it floating again.

Weighed down by cargo and pinned in by sand, the 880-foot APL Panama has refused to leave the broad sandy beach where it ran aground more than seven weeks ago.

The ship was on a trans-Pacific route, and its cargo included electronic components for Baja California manufacturing plants as well as parts for car factories in central Mexico. The delay in delivery prompted Nissan, the Japanese car manufacturer, to stop producing vehicles for three days last week at its Aguascalientes facility.

Led by Florida-based Titan Maritime LLC, salvage efforts since the grounding reportedly have succeeded in moving the bow 35 degrees, about a third of the distance necessary to pull it away from shore. A major effort late last month involved six tugboats and a barge equipped with hydraulic pullers, with a combined capacity of more than 80,000 horsepower.

Yesterday, as onlookers gazed from a distance, containers were hooked to the crane and lifted off the ship. The crane swung each container over to a waiting truck, where a worker maneuvered it into place.

The Baja California construction company Amaya Curiel y Cia S.A. de C.V. built the jetty. Company President Roberto Curiel said yesterday the 300-ton crawler crane, with a 250-foot boom, has been working around the clock since Sunday, and moving up to 60 containers per day. About 1,500 containers were on board yesterday, said Mike Hanson, spokesman for the ship's owner.

Leaders of the salvage effort had hoped they wouldn't have to resort to the costly land-based operation. They initially relied on a Sikorsky Sky Crane helicopter to remove some of the lighter containers from the ship. But many of the boxes weigh more than the helicopter's 20,000-pound carrying capacity.

Titan Maritime executives have told local officials that they are also hoping to bring in a more powerful helicopter, a Russian-made Mil-25 to lift the heavy containers. But the helicopter had yet to make an appearance yesterday.

Capt. José Luis Ríos Hernández, Ensenada's harbor master, said renewed pulling efforts are expected during the next few days. Salvage workers must not only remove cargo, but also find ways to remove the sand that is trapping the vessel.

Meanwhile, the delay has had its consequences in central Mexico. Nissan was missing parts that were in about 100 containers, and as a result, did not produce vehicles on Jan. 30, 31 and Feb. 1 at its 5,000-employee facility in Aguascalientes, said Fred Standish, director of corporate communications for Nissan North America Inc. Alternative supplies were found, and production resumed last Thursday, Standish said. “It's been running full steam ever since.”

 

Date :

25 February  2006 Source :

Sign on San Diego

 

By Sandra Dibble

 

ENSENADA – Over the past two months, they've pulled at its bow, drilled holes in its hull, used cranes and helicopters to lighten its load. But the APL Panama, an 874-foot container ship, still clings to the sandy beach where it has sat since Christmas Day.

Now salvage crews are preparing a new tactic: creating a channel alongside the stranded ship with a specialized dredger vessel, the Francesco di Giorgio.

The channel would be “as close as possible to the container ship in order to tow it via the canal to deeper waters,” said Adam Van Cauwenberghe, a regional manager in Mexico City for the Jan de Nul Group, the dredger's Belgian owners.

With the Francesco di Giorgio's arrival expected today, salvage crews are hoping to write the final chapter of the long-running saga that began when the APL Panama ran aground in shallow waters 1½ miles from Ensenada's port.

The ship's fate has been followed closely around the world, from factories in Mexico, to suppliers in Asia, to the vessel's owners in Germany, and to London-based maritime insurance clubs.

Repeated attempts to move the ship off the beach with tugboats and a barge equipped with powerful hydraulic pullers have failed. The bow has been moved 50 degrees toward open water, but not far enough to float the ship, Capt. José Luis Ríos Hernández, Ensenada's harbor master, said this week.

Another major pulling effort is expected Monday morning.

The ship's position, parallel to shore, has made for an especially challenging scenario, Ríos said, and the vessel is now hemmed in by sand piled as high as 16 feet on its starboard side.

An attempt last month to blow away the sand with a giant underwater pipe failed when the pipe broke in the surf. Earlier this month, salvage teams tried a different tack, drilling 200 small holes near the bow into the hull's starboard side, and blowing high-pressure air through them to disperse the sand.

The latest sand-removal plans involve the dredger vessel, which is 313 feet long and is designed to operate in shallow water. Named for the 15th century Italian artist Francesco di Giorgio, it has been sailing from the Nicaraguan port of Corinth, where it was doing maintenance work on a navigational channel.

As they work to remove the sand, salvage crews also have been lightening the APL Panama's load.

Titan Maritime LLC, the Florida-based company leading the salvage efforts, has been lifting off containers with a Sikorsky Sky Crane helicopter and a giant crawler crane, perched at the end of a temporary jetty, along with two smaller cranes on board the ship.

Victor Manuel Celis Dueñas, customs director for Ensenada's port, said the crews are hoping to remove 1,200 of the 1,800 containers originally on board. By Wednesday, the APL Panama's owners reported that more than 700 containers weighing more than 10,000 tons had been removed, about a third of the original cargo weight.

Cargo owners whose containers are off the vessel are being encouraged to take them away, after posting a bond with the salvage company. Some are sending their own trucks to pick up the containers, while others are loading them onto other container ships.

The strain of the past several weeks has caused some damage to the APL Panama. But Titan Maritime representatives have been telling local officials that the vessel is essentially in good shape.

Human error on the part of the captain apparently led to the vessel's grounding. Testimony of the captain and first mate indicate that the vessel violated port rules by entering restricted waters without a port pilot on board to guide it.

The APL Panama's grounding off a residential neighborhood has been of great local interest, initially drawing thousands of spectators a day to Playa Conalep, a broad beach off a residential neighborhood. But the area has been roped off, and the crowds have thinned considerably

 

Date :

11 March  2006 Source :

Sign on San Diego

 

Cargo vessel ran aground Christmas Day off Ensenada

By Sandra Dibble

ENSENADA – It took more than two months of pulling, lifting, blowing and dredging. Yesterday, the APL Panama finally broke free from the sandy beach where it ran aground Christmas Day.

It was 4:40 a.m. and raining steadily when the 874-foot container ship returned to the sea. On shore, a handful of witnesses could see its lights come back on. Aboard ship, fireworks sounded, lit by salvors celebrating the occasion.

Less than three hours later, the vessel was two miles offshore, undergoing inspection of its hull, while bulldozers worked to restore the beach where the ship spent the past 75 days.

“We've overcome the critical point,” said Capt. José Luis Ríos Hernández, Ensenada's harbor master.

Now comes the next challenge: paying the bill. Under general average, the commonly used international legal procedure, the expenses will be shared by the vessel's German owners, Mare Britannicum Schiffahrtsgesellschaft MBH & Co.; APL, the global container transportation company that chartered it; and the numerous cargo interests. The amounts are subject to negotiation.

With its propeller damaged, the APL Panama isn't going anywhere soon. The ship can't leave Ensenada until the salvors, the ship's owners and Mexican government inspectors have examined its condition. In addition, Mexican authorities won't allow the vessel to leave until the beach where it was stranded is restored.

The APL Panama ran aground at 6:12 p.m. Dec. 25, as it prepared to enter the port of Ensenada on a regularly scheduled trans-Pacific run. Mexican authorities attribute the incident to human error on the part of the vessel's Croatian captain, Zupan Branko; sworn testimony suggests he broke port rules by steering the ship into restricted waters without waiting for the guidance of a port pilot.

Over the weeks, the vessel has generated widespread interest in Ensenada, drawing thousands to Playa Conalep, a broad sandy beach off a residential neighborhood south of the port.

An Ensenada taxi driver composed a corrido, a song telling the ship's story, and when residents celebrated a pre-Lenten carnival last month, the APL Panama was featured as a float.

“We got used to seeing it, it belonged to us,” Francisco Ceseña, a 33-year-old Ensenada truck driver, said early yesterday as he arrived to haul away pieces of a temporary rock-and-sand jetty built for the APL Panama. “Now they've gone and stolen it.”

The APL Panama was loaded with more than 1,800 containers when it ran aground, many of them holding electronic components from Asia for factories in Mexico. Nissan, Sony and Panasonic are among the affected companies.

The APL's owners hired Titan Maritime LLC, a Florida-based salvage company, to move the ship, which was trapped in sand parallel to shore. The salvors tried numerous approaches: pulling at its bow with tugboats and hydraulic pulling machines; lifting off more nearly 1,300 containers to lighten its load; moving sand by blowing air through tiny holes drilled into the hull.

Last month, they hired a hopper-dredger vessel, the Francesco di Giorgio, owned by a Belgian company, Jan de Nul. The vessel dug a channel near the APL Panama's bow, about 260 feet wide and 30 feet deep, said Adam Van Cauwenberghe, the company's representative in Mexico City.

Ríos, the harbor master, attributed yesterday's successful refloating to the combination of approaches. Pulling the APL Panama toward the newly dredged channel yesterday were three tugboats and two hydraulic pullers attached directly to the APL Panama.

While the salvage efforts have generated widespread interest – both from curious residents and members of the maritime community worldwide – hardly anyone was there to witness the floating. Ríos was among the few on the beach to see the ship float away in the early-morning darkness.

But word soon got out – around Ensenada, across the United States and across the Atlantic to London and Germany as David Stirling, Titan's Scottish salvage master sent out a terse e-mail message from the APL Panama: “Vessel refloated at 4:40 lt (local time).”

 

 

CAUSE OF THE DAMAGE  
   

 

The cause of the grounding is under investigation but seems to be an error of navigation...

 

   
Sources :  
 

 

COSTS  

Hull :

TBA Cargo : TBA
Liability : TBA Fees : TBA
Others : TBA    
       

Sources :

     
 

 

PHOTOS  

 

 

 

© SignOnSanDiego by the Union Tribune

Photos by JOHN GIBBINS / Union-Tribune

 

COMMENTS  
TBA

 

 

 

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