Fuel Removal from Grounded Kea Trader in Progress
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Three weeks after the grounding of Kea Trader on a reef off New Caledonia, the removal of heavy fuel oil from the 2017-built containership is now underway and could be completed next week.
According to Radio New Zealand, helicopters are being used to remove fuel from a ship stuck on a reef off New Caledonia.
Oil is being moved from the vessel in tanks onto the nearby Chasseloup barge, London-based Lomar Shipping, the ship’s owner, informed.
"The swells reportedly prevented the salvage teams to dock a barge next to the stricken ship as they plan to pump out the 750000 litres of fuel in its tanks. Due to the adverse sea conditions have made it impossible to extract the fuel direct to barges, hence helicopters are being used to shift the fuel," said the report.
There are no reports of any pollution and no report of why the brand new 200-metre ship hit the reef as it was approaching Noumea on its voyage from French Polynesia.
It may take a month to refloat the Kea Trader, says the report.