M/V Bareli salvage operation going on

Emergency Information, Oslo, 18.03.2012

(Oslo, 18. March 2012): Chinese Maritime Authorities, with active support from Norwegian management company Klaveness and insurers Gard, are in full swing with the salvage operation of M/V Bareli, the Singapore-flagged container ship that ran aground, Thursday 15th March, off the coast of Fuqing, China.

The vessel has a severe crack in the fore body, and has taken on water and is currently resting on the rocks at the location of the incident. There are no reports of oil spill from the vessel, but booms are in place around the ship to prevent spreading if the situation should change.

"The potential environmental impact of this grounding is something we take very seriously and we would like to extend our sincere appreciation of the close and constructive co-operation with the local, Chinese Maritime Authorities. We are together doing whatever we can to empty the ships for fuel oil and dangerous goods”, said Lasse Kristoffersen, CEO of Torvald Klaveness.

"After the safe evacuation of all crew members already on Thursday night, we have been mobilizing all available resources to get the salvage operation underway”, Mr. Kristoffersen said. "First priority now is to empty the ship for Fuel Oil. Shanghai Salvage has been contracted for the operation and is mobilized on site together with our most senior ship management personell”, said Kristoffersen. The lensing operation will start as soon as the necessary preparations have been completed. In parallel, the operation for emptying the ship for containers has started. Initial priority will be to empty the ship for containers classified with dangerous goods.

Facts:
Name M/V Bareli
Type: Container ship
Owner: Antarctica Shipping Pte. Ltd in Singapore
Manager: Klaveness Ship Management AS
Built: 2003
Class: DNV
Length: 212,75 m
Beam: 32,24 m
Crew nationality: Romanian, Philippino, South African
Insurer: Gard

Torvald Klaveness, press release