Cargo-raising plans

Press, 30 August 1984, Page 11

Cargo-raising plans

NZPA-Reuter Rotterdam Salvage companies have begun working out detailed schemes for raising the radioactive cargo of the French freighter Mont Louis, which sank off the Belgian coast on August 25. Final decisions on recovery of its 240-tonne cargo of highly toxic uranium hexafluoride would have to wait until further inspections were made by divers, who made their first examination yesterday, the Dutch company Smit International said. Smit, which said it should be able to raise the cargo safely within about three weeks, believed it would have to cut open the hull of the vessel, lying on its side

in about 15m of water, to get to the barrels containing the chemical. With its Belgian partner, Union de Remorquage et de Sauvetage, it will use a floating crane to raise the 30 barrels, which with protective cladding weigh some 15 tonnes each. First Smit must decide whether it is necessary to bore holes in the hull to let out air and allow the vessel to settle firmly on the sea bed. Three Smit divers had their first look at the hull yesterday, but results of their dive were not immediately known. It was too early to say when final decisions on how to lift the cargo would be

taken, the Smit spokesman said. Divers first had to' plug a small oil leak, which was reducing visibility. The Mont Louis sank after a collision in poor visibility with a passenger ferry bound for Britain. It was carrying radioactive material to the Soviet Union from France. The sinking led to calls from a variety of groups for stronger rules on shipping of radioactive material and criticism over delays in releasing information about the cargo. French Shipping Minister, Mr Guy Lengagne, said yesterday that France had witheld details until it was sure of the scope of the accident.