SALVAGE CODE RED

As Salvage Code Red illustrates, emergency marine salvage is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Because of their sheer size and highly toxic cargo, supertankers can be great liabilities at sea. When they are involved in an accident, the environmental cost can be high and the media spotlight bright. We take a look at five of the worst oil tanker disasters that occurred close to the British Isles in recent decades.

The Amoco Cadiz
March, 1978

One of the single worst oil tanker disasters close to the British Isles occurred when super-tanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground off the coast of France in bad weather in March 1978, en route from the Persian Gulf to Le Havre.

The environmental impact was catastrophic.

Attempts to save the ship’s cargo and oil were waylaid when storms caused the Amoco Cadiz to split in two, releasing all the oil on board into the Atlantic Ocean, just off the Brittany coast. The isolated location of the ship and the rough sea restricted the cleanup efforts for the first two weeks after the incident. As much as 220,000 tonnes of oil flooded the sea – the entire 1,619,048 barrels on board the ship - creating an oil slick 30 km. wide and 130 kms. long and polluting 320 kms. of coastline in the process. More than 30 ships tried to contain the oil slick, including Royal Navy tugs and a special vessel from Holland equipped with mechanical shovels. Although the clean-up operation did manage to collect as much as 100,000 tonnes of oil and water, less than 20,000 tonnes of oil were recovered from this liquid after treatment in refining plants. The oil slick was responsible for killing or injuring an estimated 300,000 sea birds. Read Article

Emergency marine salvage is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Smit, which is one of the salvage companies featured in National Geographic’s ‘Salvage Code Red,’ is one of the oldest salvage rescue companies in the world, with more than 165 years of service in the maritime sector. Over the years it has worked all over the globe on many sizes of vessels. But while the company may be best known for its part in salvaging the Riverdance ferry in Blackpool in 2008, featured in an upcoming episode of Salvage Code Red, Smit also responds to smaller, but no less dangerous and technically-complicated, salvage operations every month.

We take a look at some of their biggest salvage operations that they encountered in 2008.

Zhen Hua 10
2nd February – 5th February 2008

In February 2008, the heavy cargo vessel Zhen Hua 10, carrying five massive gantry cranes, grounded in heavy wind just outside Rotterdam, where Smit is based.

As soon as the salvage contract had been awarded to Smit, the company immediately deployed a Salvage Master via helicopter to assist the captain in the rescue operation. To lighten the vessel, the salvage crew removed some of her ballast. Using a powerful 220-ton oceangoing tug and three harbour tugs, the Smit team successfully refloated the Zhen Hua 10 during high tide on 5th February, 2008. A later inquiry into the incident suggested that the anchors and engine power of the Zhen Hua 10 may have been insufficient to cope with the “wind sensitive” high cranes, which towered high above the cargo decks and would have put additional strain on the ship in bad weather. Read Article

Super Ships: A look at some of the largest ships on the ocean

The Xin Los Angeles

Designed and built by Samsung Heavy Industries, the Xin Los Angeles is one of the world’s largest cargo ships.

Capable of carrying a staggering 9,600 six-meter cargo containers – 8x18 tiered rows on the weather deck of the >vessel, 16x10 in the hold itself - the Xin Los Angeles is 337 metres long and 46 metres wide. Despite being far larger than most ocean-going ships, she only requires a crew of 19.

The Emma Maersk

Currently the largest containership on the seas, she can carry more than11,000 six-metere containers in one go – similar to a 71-kilometer-long train capable of carrying 528 million bananas in a single trip. The Emma Maersk just squeaks by the Xin Los Angeles for the title of biggest ship at 397 metres long and 63 metres wide with an engine that produces the equivalent output of 1,156 cars! The anchor alone weighs in at an impressive 29 tonnes. Read Article

People involved in marine salvage operations are often expected to work in extremely dangerous environments, where one wrong move could lead to tragedy. But with so many major shipping disasters reported every year, marine salvage teams are constantly in demand. Major salvage companies like Florida-based Titan have to be able to respond to a code red salvage alert and get their teams to a stricken vessel anywhere in the world within twenty-four hours.

Titan, along with Rotterdam-based Smit, which also features in Salvage Code Red, is today one of the biggest marine salvage companies in the world, but started out back in the 1980s as a one-tug towing firm. It was only after working on a successful salvage operation in the Caribbean in 1982 that the company quickly expanded to take on additional barges, tugs and cranes and focus on marine salvage operations. Today, Titan is the US Coast Guard’s main salvage contractor in Mississippi and much of the Gulf of Mexico and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, successfully re-floated no less than 65 vessels.

We take a look at some of their recent marine salvage work. Read Article

Despite being packed with state-of-the-art navigation systems and built to ever-increasing specifications to withstand all that the world’s oceans can throw at them, there are still many major shipping disasters reported every year – good news for the marine salvage companies featured in Salvage Code Red, less so for ship owners.

But what causes these shipping disasters? Whether wild winds, ferocious fires, clumsy captains or sinking ships, the causes of modern-day shipping disasters are numerous. Read Article

Interested in learning more about the shipping industry and the exciting world of marine salvage as featured in Salvage Code Red? Batten down the hatches, grab your lifejacket and set sail on the web to discover the great and the good of the maritime world.

Want to recommend your own link for inclusion? Email us

International Salvage Union - The international body representing marine salvage members from around the world. Visit the Site

Shipwrecks UK – A regularly updated list about losses from shipwrecks in the seas around Britain and Ireland. Visit the Site

The New Carissa Wreck – Photos and information from OregonLive about the cargo ship New Carissa as featured on Salvage Code Red. Visit the Site

The Riverdance Webcam – Updated every half an hour, images of the shoreline where the Riverdance wreak is located. Visit the Site

Ship of the Day – Concentrating mainly on ships entering the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands this is a popular blog, which, as the name suggests, showcases a different ship every day. Visit the Site

Smit - One of the oldest salvage rescue companies in the world, with a proud tradition of more than 165 years of service in the maritime sector. Also one of the marine salvage crews featured in Salvage Code Red. Visit the Site

Titan - Titan are today one of the biggest marine salvage companies in the world, but started out back in the 1980s as a one-tug towing firm. They are also one of marine salvage crews featured in Salvage Code Red. Visit the Site

Wired Magazine – High Tech Cowboys of the Deep Sea: The Race to Save the Cougar Ace – An informative feature from US Magazine Wired on the world of marine salvage, highlighting the Titan Marine Salvage team’s mission to save the cargo vessel the Cougar Ace off the coast of Alaska, USA. Visit the Site

gCaptain – A website dedicated to maritime professionals, includes shipping news, blogs, photos of ships and online navigational calculators. Visit the Site

Lloyd’s List – Watch weekly video updates on all the latest news affecting the maritime industry, plus get inside the industry with the latest company news. Visit the Site

Ship Recycling Industries Association (India) – Find out more about the Alang Shipyard and how ships are recycled. Visit the Site

The National Geographic Channel is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Read Article

Emergency marine salvage, as documented on Salvage Code Red, may well be one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, but the danger doesn’t end once a ship has been saved. If a ship cannot be repaired after a major incident, it is often sold for scrap. We uncover more about modern-day ship breaking and how it’s actually done.

What is Ship Breaking?

Ship breaking is the process of dismantling ships and selling their parts - primarily the steel - for scrap. It is estimated that between 200 and 600 large, end-of-life ships are broken up and recycled every year worldwide.

The main impetus for breaking a ship down is that maintenance costs go up as a ship ages. Shipping companies also have to pay port charges, crew salaries and oil fees for their ships, so when they are no longer economically viable they are sold to ship recyclers who strip the old ships down, salvaging anything of value.

It is big business globally, particularly in the developing world.

Dismantling a ship and recycling its parts is a very labour intensive process that involves a wide range of activities, from removing all the equipment and items left on a ship, such as engine parts and fittings, to cutting down and recycling the entire ship’s infrastructure. Read Article

Seb Chander is a marine salvage diver for Titan, one of the largest marine salvage companies in the world. He travels the world rescuing vessels in distress in what is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Seb and his colleagues are featured on National Geographic Channel’s Salvage Code Red, which goes behind the scenes in the dangerous world of marine salvage.

Listen to the interview with Seb Chander, Marine Salvage Diver, Click Here>

What does the job involve?

Marine Salvage Diver: Basically anytime something leaks, crashes, sinks or catches fire in the marine world – a ship or a drilling platform - we have to go out and solve the problem.

What’s the attraction of marine salvage?

Marine Salvage Diver: I’d been teaching sport diving for about 8 or 9 years and wanted to find a job that involved working underwater, rather than just showing people around. A friend suggested I try commercial diving so I went to do a course. I was applying for lots of jobs while I was doing the course and Titan asked me to come in for some training. About six days into the training they needed a diver who was also a diver-medic, which I was, so, the next day, I was working on a salvage operation saving a drilling platform in Texas. I find salvage very interesting because no two jobs are the same; the circumstances are different, you are working on different casualties or the environmental conditions are very different.

The actual achievement of what we do is great. I’ve been involved in two heavy lifts since starting in salvage. We’ve lifted the accommodation blocks of two ships, which weigh anything from 500 to 700 tonnes and we’ve had to do all the rigging for that. There is a huge sense of achievement when you are working on something that is hard and risky, and challenging, and you have to work with a team that you are trusting with your life to outsmart the challenges in front of you. When you succeed in clearing a hazard that weighs 500 tonnes it just feels amazing.

What’s the deepest you dive?

Marine Salvage Diver: The deepest I have dived to so far is 30 metres. Generally there isn’t a need to go deeper but there have been occasions where deeper dives have been necessary.

The American regulations are different to the UK though, so I am limited to a 50 metre maximum. But at 50 metres I can only do 15 minutes, whereas when I dive shallower than 30 metres I can stay under for a couple of hours. If you think about it most vessels run aground in shallow water so 30 metres is typically as deep as we need to go in most instances. Read Article