Salvors Ardent and Multraship joined Wagenborg Shipping to remove 270 tonnes of cargo and 28 tonnes of marine gas oil from the 3,250-dwt Priscilla (built 2009) that grounded in Scottish waters on 17 July.
Preparations are ongoing to refloat the Dutch-flagged ship that remains stable but hard aground with six crew members safe on board, UK’s Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.
The Wagenborg-owned vessel has a ruptured ballast tank, with no other damage to machinery, TradeWinds had reported earlier. The Bureau Veritas-classed vessel was last inspected in 2014.
“I am pleased to report that operations to prepare the vessel for a re-float are progressing well,” said Hugh Shaw, the UK government official responsible for salvage operations.
The exclusion zone remains at 1,000 metres. About 15 tonnes of marine gas oil, four tonnes of heavy fuel oil and two tonnes of lubricating oil will be retained on board after the lightering operations.
Over 270 tonnes of cargo has been successfully discharged from the vessel onto a reception barge, which will be loaded onto Priscilla’s sister ship Alana Evita, the MCA said.
A second barge has been deployed to load cargo and operations will continue until approximately 1,350 tonnes have been removed in order to lighten the vessel.
To control an un-planned re-float during lightering operations a tug will be connected to the stern of Priscilla once 500 tonnes has been discharged.
Wagenborg has also provided a barge while Multraship and Briggs has brought on several support vessels.
