Marine Salvage Operation, Rio Para, Brazil

MV Haidar

Haidar docked after conversion to livestock transport.

Haidar capsized beside dock.

Removing the cattle carcasses from the beach.

Responsibility : Salvage Master

The MV Haidar, a Lebanese-flagged vessel was converted from a small container ship to a livestock carrier. This was her 3rd voyage since conversion.

On October 6, 2015, during the loading of 5,000 cattle, the vessel lost stability and rolled over at the dock and sank, drowning most of the cattle.

The cleanup was especially difficult for the surrounding beach community. Initially, the salvage crews were hired by the British underwriters to remove the oil from the ship and clean beaches and mangroves of spilled oil. But when hundreds of cattle carcasses washed up on local beaches, and jammed under houses, the salvage operation broadened to include the removal and burial of the dead cattle.

As clean-up of the cattle carcasses continued, a Dutch dive team consulted with the captain and chief engineer of Haidar to determine where the fuel, oil and slops were kept aboard the ship. Working with a tank diagram, the divers methodically hot-tapped and checked every tank. Where oil was found, it was pumped into an oil barge floating overhead.

Simultaneously, under orders from the local municipal court, a Brazilian dive team worked clearing the ship of drown animals, though in the fecund waters of Rio Para, those carcasses were quickly reduced to little more than bones.

By the end of the fuel removal, relationships between the ship owners and underwriters had deteriorated to the point where, as of early 2016, no contract had been signed for the removal of the wreck of MV Haidar from the terminal of Companhia Docas do Pará in Vila do Conde, in spite of the demands of CDP officials and Brazilian authorities.

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