Smit Salvage has refloated Jumbo Shipping’s vessel, Stellamare, which sank in the New York port of Albany last month.
The vessel was situated along the quayside and was lying on her portside on the riverbed. Two floating cranes and other marine craft were deployed and the vessel was stabilised on 5 January, with all of the water inside the vessel pumped out.
The Stellamare is a specialist heavy lift vessel which capsized alongside during loading operations in the port on Tuesday 9 December 2003. It was declared a constructive total loss (CTL).
At the time of the accident 18 crew members were onboard, all of Russian nationality, 15 of which could be rescued from the water and from the vessel. During the refloating operation, the bodies of the three missing crewmen were found in the vessel.
Stellamare was equipped with two derrick cranes, each with a safe working load of 180t, giving it a combined lifting capacity of 360t. It was in the process of loading a heavy component of a power station, weighing approximately 300t, when it listed over the portside. As the list increased, the vessel lost stability and ultimately flooded and capsized alongside her loading berth in the Port of Albany.
Official and in-house investigations into the cause of the accident are continuing, Jumbo said.
