Sunken Dredger ‘Tridevi Prem’ Poses no Threat of Oil Spill – Chairman NMPT Ramana
Mangaluru: “On September 2, a dredger “Tridevi Prem” belonging to Mumbai based company Mercator, anchored about 2.5 nautical miles of New Mangalore Port sank into the sea. We brought the incident to the notice of DG shipping and filed a complaint in the Panambur police station and also with the Coastal Security Police against Tridevi Prem owners for abandoning the dredger. We are now very closely monitoring the dredger. Till today morning there have been no signs of an oil spill which is also reported by the INCOIS as well as the coast guard and confirmed from our own observation. There is no threat for the environment as there are no traces of oil spill, said the chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust A V Ramana in a press meet held at the NMPT premises here on September 6.
Addressing the mediapersons Ramana said, “The place where the dredger sank was not on the navigation route. There is no threat to the environment because the fuel in the dredger is low sulfur high-speed diesel which easily evaporates in case there is an oil spill. We have taken all the precautionary measures by placing the booms. The other development is that the joint director general of shipping from Chennai has written a letter to the company which owns the dredger and the company has agreed to salvage the wreck. One good thing is that the fuel oil that is inside the dredger is a no sulfur high-speed diesel oil which has the natural tendency to get evaporated and is not a harmful one.”
Ramana further said, “We don’t expect any issue about the dredger and the Singapore based company, BMC will take care of the salvaging of the dredger which needs a lot of planning along with the condition of the sea. DG shipping has filed a certain case under 2 and 3 sections of the Merchant shipping act. Over a period of time, the wreck will be taken out by the Mercator to whatever agency they appoint. In spite of all this, we have taken this matter with the chief secretary of Karnataka. We have informed the district administration and also sensitized the pollution control board of Karnataka so that in case of any eventuality we will also be prepared. As of now, we don’t expect any threat or any problem as we are very confident that there is no oil spill”.
Ramana also said, “On September 5, we received a letter from the joint director general of shipping Chennai that he has written a letter to the Mercator owner of the vessel, ‘Tridevi Prem based in Mumbai and that the Mercator has appointed an agency called BMC Singapore for the removal of the wreck”.