Siphoning completed

CEBU, Philippines - After a month of mitigating measures to address the oil spill from the sunken MV St. Thomas Aquinas, siphoning of the remaining oil from the ill-fated ship has been completed.

Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Cebu Station Commander Weniel Azcuna yesterday said they signed the certification of completion of siphoning operations last Tuesday morning.

PCG is supervising Malayan Towage and Nippon Salvage, which were hired by 2GO group, the owner of MV St. Thomas Aquinas, to handle the oil spill from the ship and to remove the trapped oil as well as to salvage the vessel if necessary.

A total of 6,680 liters of bunker fuel was recovered from 11 tanks plus four compartments were identified to  have tapped oil, Azcuna said.

“We conducted thorough documentation after Malayan Towage and Nippon Salvage informed us that they have finished siphoning oil inside the vessel. We did video documentation. Then at around 11:30am Tuesday, we approved their recommendation,”  Azcuna explained.

Further, he announced that upon assessment, the retrieval operation was terminated after searching 85 percent of the vessel.

“With the remaining 15 percent unexplored, it is impossible to search this part of the vessel without risking the lives of our technical divers. This is why we decided to terminate the retrieval operation. But the technical divers will still be on standby just in case there is an opportunity that we continue the retrieval,” Azcuna said.

Lito Salvio, Vice President of 2GO Group, said the recovered oil from the sunken vessel will be reprocessed while spilled oil that  reached the sea waters of Cordova town has been shipped to Bulacan by Genetron, another company that they have commissioned for the oil spill clean-up.

PCG, Philippine Navy and other concerned agencies have started assessing whether or not removing the vessel from Lauis Ledge is necessary.

“The next phase now is determining if wreck removal is necessary. Butthis will take time for concerned agencies to come up with a recommendation. We are also considering the demobilization after siphoning ended which takes at least two days. Malayan and Nippon still have to remove the markings, sinker lines and mooring lines,” Azcuna said.

Azcuna explained that there are factors to consider in deciding if salvaging the vessel would be necessary, like if it would pose threat to marine environment and traffic.

Further, he said the salvaging would be the responsibility of the vessel owner. 2GO group has already vowed to heed recommendations of the marine authorities.  Salvio, for his part, stressed they have not thoroughly considered salvaging as they have been busy attending to mass burial preparations as well as addressing the oil spill.

“We will resolve and attend to each  concern one at a time,” Salvio told The Freeman. —(FREEMAN)