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New York Met

New York Met
by Mike Ales

March 16, 2004 - The STELLAMARE Casualty and the Salvage Operation

A late winter snowstorm did not prevent a good turnout at Moran’s Restaurant for the NY Met Section’s March meeting. CDR John Cameron, USCG, Chief of the Marine Safety Operations Division, U.S. Coast Guard Activities New York, gave an informative presentation on the capsizing of the M/V STELLAMARE in the Port of Albany, NY,in December 2003, and the subsequent salvage operation.

CDR Cameron began his presentation with a discussion of the operation of a heavy lift ship of this type, followed by a general description of the events surrounding the capsizing. He then described the rescue operations immediately after the casualty, along with the initial pollution control efforts. The successful completion of the casualty control and salvage operation was

facilitated by the formation early on of an integrated command structure, bringing the federal agencies, state, city, salvage firm, and the owners representatives under a unified command.

CDR Cameron then described the body recovery operations (there were three fatalities), pollution mitigation and oil recovery operations, preliminary investigations, and wreck assessment. He finished his presentation with a discussion of the salvage operations, including the offloading of the cargo, the righting of the ship without damage to the pier, the refloating of the ship, and towing preparations. He emphasized that the close cooperation of all of the involved parties was the key to an expeditious resolution of this casualty. After a spirited question and answer period the meeting was adjourned.

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