Salvage companies Ardent and Multraship have been appointed to aid Wagenborg Shipping to refloat a multipurpose ship that ran aground in Scottish waters on 17 July.
Representatives from Ardent will carry out an initial assessment on the 3,250-dwt Priscilla (built 2009) on 21 July, a statement by UK’s Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.
“Salvors have already commenced deploying equipment to the incident site,” the MCA said.
The Wagenborg-operated vessel “remains stable but hard aground” on the Pentland Skerries off the northern coast of Scotland with six crewmembers onboard safe and well.
No pollution has been reported until now. The Bureau Veritas-classed vessel was last inspected in 2014.
A 500-metre exclusion zone has been set up around the incident site to mitigate risks to the salvors and other shipping traffic in the area.
There is adequate tug and salvage support on scene as well, the MCA said.
“This incident has now become a salvage operation in order to refloat the vessel,” said Hugh Shaw, the UK government official responsible for salvage operations.
He noted that the waters around the Pentland Firth are well known for its strong and fast tides. “I’m pleased that the owner’s representative and insurers have appointed experienced salvors without delay.”
