Pacific Towing (‘PacTow’) has been exceptionally busy with salvage projects in its home country, Papua New Guinea. Melanesia’s marine services and salvage market leader performed four salvages across three separate provinces in just two months. The salvages involved international fishing vessels as well as a domestic general cargo vessel.
Three of the recently salvaged vessels had run aground and another was adrift at sea. Two of the vessels were towed back to the capital city of Port Moresby for repairs and the others to Rabaul in East New Britain.
PacTow Manager Gerard Kasnari reports that “vessels running aground reefs, is the leading reason for PacTow’s salvage operations in PNG, and that this is especially so for international fishing vessels.” Mechanical or engine failure is the second most common reason for PacTow’s salvages.
Unfortunately, an engine failure which was experienced by the cargo vessel PacTow recently salvaged occurred during unfavourable weather conditions on its approach to Port Moresby via Basilisk Passage. Strong southeast winds from the stern pushed the ship straight onto the reef at Fisherman’s (Daugo) Island. Two ASD tugs of 62 and 64 tonnes bollard pull were deployed from PacTow’s nearby tug base to refloat the vessel and tow her into Port Moresby. Another of PacTow’s ASD tugs has since towed the vessel to Batam Indonesia for repairs.
The most challenging of the recent salvages performed by PacTow was of one of the international fishing vessels. The 71 metre long tuna purse seiner had run aground on a fringing reef at Emirau Island, part of the remote Mussau Archipelago in New Ireland Province. There was grave concern that the vessel would break up and pollute the traditional fishing grounds and coastline, thus severely impacting the local villagers.
PacTow chartered a helicopter to fly in one of its commercial diving supervisors and veteran salvage master, Ian Perrott to assess the technical requirements of the salvage. PacTow has long partnered with Perrott Salvage on numerous projects throughout Melanesia and also in northern Australia.
This initial stage of the project was also important to build rapport with the traditional landowners. Kasnari stresses that the establishment of trust and positive community relations is essential to the success of any salvage project taking place on PNG’s remote coastlines, especially when people are living nearby and relying on the reefs and oceans for their livelihood.
Following the necessary planning and logistical arrangements, a tug and PacTow’s salvage team and commercial divers from Port Moresby were deployed to refloat the vessel and tow her to Rabaul. Upon arrival in Rabaul the commercial divers were able to conduct a full hull inspection and provide the necessary reports to the vessel’s owners so that an application could be made for the vessel’s return to her flagged state.
Salvage is a core service of PacTow’s and one that frequently requires long distance towage. Kasnari says that “many of the vessels we assist, whether they are adrift at sea due to some sort of mechanical failure, or have run aground a reef, are operating hundreds of nautical miles from any kind of port let alone major ports where there are the right kind of repair services. Sometimes we’ll tow a vessel to a small regional port for initial repairs and then we’ll do a longer tow back to Port Moresby or Lae.”
Depending on the extent of repairs required and under which country the vessel is flagged, PacTow will also transfer salvaged vessels internationally if that’s what the owners want. At times, they’ll just provide an escort service if the vessel can travel under its own power.
PacTow’s fleet of tugs, especially its larger and more powerful ASDs, are central to its salvage operations and long-distance ocean towage capacity. Kasnari, points out that the purchase of most of the ASDs has been part of a strategic re-fleeting program that is now two thirds complete. In addition to owning PNG’s largest tug fleet, PacTow has its tugs strategically deployed at each of its five operations throughout PNG, as well as in Solomon Islands, enabling it to provide a more rapid emergency response service. The company has also established a business in Fiji.
PacTow is Melanesia’s only full member of the International Salvage Union (ISU) and is also a member of the International Spill Control Organization (ISCO).
