Paradip Port to float tender to pump oil out of sunken ship
By IANSWednesday, September 23, 2009
BHUBANESWAR - The Paradip Port in Orissa has decided to float a global tender to pump the stored oil out of a Mongolian ship that sank off its coast Sep 9.
“We have decided to float a global tender to pump out oil from the sunken ship. Since in India there are few companies having scientific expertise in pumping out oil from a sunken ship, we have decided to float the tender,” Paradip Port deputy chairman Biplab Kumar said Wednesday.
The port authorities have already started the process for floating the tender, he said.
The vessel MV Black Rose, carrying about 25,000 tonnes of iron ore fines and 900 tonnes of oil, capsized in Bay of Bengal, five km off the Paradip coast.
Earlier this week, the port started a clean-up drive along its coast to contain oil leakage from the sunken ship.
“We are trying to contain the possible oil spillage from the vessel,” Kumar said.
The site where the vessel capsized is very close to the Gahirmatha marine sanctuary, one of the few remaining nesting sites for Olive Ridley turtles in the world. The turtles come to the site every year around this month for breeding.
