Oleg Naydenov – Salvage Firms to Remove Oil from Sunken Trawler Off Canary Islands

Oleg Naydenov smolders after being towed out to sea near the Canary Islands. Photo: Salvamento Maritimo

Newly formed marine services company Ardent and a salvage and diving firm from Spain have been contracted to remove oil from a sunken fishing trawler which sank off the coast of the Canary Islands in April and has been slowly leaking oil, threatening nearby tourist beaches.

[contextly_sidebar id=”IeL2bqwU15QlyOWOjAvCd5m4c3WLpUC4″]Ardent, a new salvage company formed by a merger between Titan Salvage and Svitzer Salvage, is partnering with Ardentia Marine, a leading salvage and diving company in Spain, to remove oil from the Russian trawler Oleg Naydenov, which caught fire on April 11 while docked at the Port of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. The ship was later towed out to sea and it eventually sank approximately 15 nautical miles southwest of Gran Canarias island. All 72 people aboard the ship were able to disembark safely at Las Palmas.

The vessel now sits upright on the seabed at a depth of 2,700 meters.

The Ardent-Ardentia joint venture has already begun mobilizing the necessary resources in place to carry out the oil removal.

To remove the oil aboard, receiving tanks will be submerged to collect oil from the sunken vessel and hoisted to the surface as they fill up. In addition, subsea recovery domes will be installed over areas where leaks have been detected in order to further contain any potential environmental pollution.

The video below demonstrates the oil removal process:

The operation will also be supported by a full salvage team, the use of remote operated vessels (ROV) and heavy lifting equipment from the surface side, according to the Ardent-Ardentia joint venture.

The companies will be working in close coordination with La Sociedad de Salvamento y Seguridad Marítima (SASEMAR) to ensure that all immediate and long term threats to the environment are prevented.

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