Svitzer chosen to raise half sunken ferry
Svitzer Salvage was chosen to refloat the "Napoleon Bonaparte" which is still down by the stern in a water depth of 9.5 meters in the port of Marseille more than 15 days after the storm which sent it to the bottom.
The propellers of the ship are still in the mud, and the engine room and decks 1, 2, 3 and 4 are at least partially flooded with about 30,000 m³ of water. On site, two divers of the Marseille-based company ECPM have welded a steel plate of 36 m² and at weight of nearly 7 tons on the hole which has a size of at least three meters by three meters.
First, the DCNS worked on the salvage, but given the complexity of operations, SNCM decided to appeal to experts. The company Svitzer won the tender to coordinate the salvage which has not yet begun as it is a very complicated operation due to water flow inside the vessel. This requires to be very careful. Nobody actually knows how long the operation will last or how much it will cost. 20 pumps have been implemented with a total capacity of 6000 m³ per hour. But actually, they only work with a capacity of 500 m³ per hour to keep the water level so far stable. Veolia Environmental Services has installed booms and provided the tanker "Guyenne" in case a significant discharge of wastewater is required.