MANGALURU: Tridevi Prem, the dredging vessel that was abandoned by its crew members on Monday after she started taking in water in the pump room, sank off the New Mangalore Port outer anchorage in the wee hours of Tuesday.
Fearing a possible oil spill as the vessel had 45 kilolitres of fuel, the port authorities have initiated a slew of measures to prevent it. Fortunately, the fuel is only white oil -- low-sulfur high-speed diesel -- and the port authorities have ruled out much impact on the environment.
NMPT had deployed the dredging company Mercator based in Mumbai with a tender period of three years, but the company abandoned dredging in January. So, the port has engaged Dredging Corporation of India for the work from September this year.
After the Tridevi Prem, anchored 2.5 nautical miles from the dock started taking in water on Sunday, its 13-member crew reported the flooding to the Indian Coast Guard and abandoned the vessel in the early hours of Monday. The abandoned vessel sank almost at the outer anchorage around 1 am on Tuesday.
Addressing media persons, NMPT chairman A V Ramana said the port authority filed a complaint with the Director General of Shipping and the Mercantile Marine Department issued a notice to Mercator and its crew about taking responsibility of the vessel.
“However, the ship sunk except some portion which is visible. The port’s efforts to empty the fuel using a bunker barge did not succeed due to inclement weather and the swell,” he said.
Explaining the efforts to contain any possible oil spill, the chairman said the dredging vessel has approximately 45 kl of high-speed low-sulfur fuel in its bunker. “Fortunately, the fuel termed as white oil is not harmful to marine life as it evaporates in the atmosphere. We were worried about the possible storage of black oil in the vessel which has higher viscosity and is dangerous to the environment. In this case, there is no black oil in the vessel but all the precautionary measures have been taken,” he said.
NMPT has placed boom barriers around the vessel and skimmers and oil absorbents are on standby along with the Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) resources. “We have approached MRPL to help with their resources and we have also asked Cochin Port, Goa and Mumbai ports to keep their pollution control equipment ready,” Ramana said.
INCOIS Hyderabad has been requested to keep an eye on the coordinates, while all the authorities concerned, including the DK district administration, have been flagged about the incident, he added.