Piraeus, Greece: The Tsavliris Salvage Group has had a busy first two months in 2009.
In January, the company signed two contracts with Lloyds for 'Minoan Hope', which was disabled 50 nautical miles north of the Port of Sudan.
Tsavliris Salvage dispatched salvage tug 'Aetos Z' from her Red Sea Salvage station to assist the 64,871DWT 'Minoan Hope'. The vessel was drifting towards the shore and was in imminent danger of grounding before she was towed, stern first, to clear the reefs. The vessel was then connected up for towage to the Ras Sadat anchorage where she arrived safely on January 17.
The second contract, for 'Ocean Victory' was signed on January 20. Salvage tug 'Massai' was dispatched from her Caribbean salvage station, to the assistance of the the 6,000DWT 'Ocean Victory', which was laden with some 5,600 tonnes of bulk cargo. The vessel was safely towed to Vila de Conde in Brazil and was towed to Trinidad after a period of standing in which the vessel's cargo was discharged.
Tsavliris' own salvage tugs have also active with cases. On January 15, 'Tsavliris Unity' was sent to the aid of 'Annemieke', a 9,500DWT vessel disabled about 200 miles west of Sri Lanka. The vessel was towed to Colombo.
Works in February included 'Mistral's' dispatch from Gibraltar to Algeria to tow the 4,300DWT 'Maria' which had been disabled. After the initial mobilisation was aborted due to adverse weather, 'Maria' was safely towed to Cartagena, Spain, where she arrived on February 18.
Finally, Tsavliris deployed salvage tug 'Tsavliris Hellas' to the assistance of 'Nordanvind', a 38,650DWT tanker disabled about 650 nautical miles south of Azores. The vessel was towed to Las Palmas and arrived on February 27.