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Marine
Helping protect
the environment
Environmental projects are a growing
market as the general public has
become increasingly aware of the
vulnerability of the marine environment
and that it deserves protection.
In 2008, Mammoet Salvage entered
into contracts for two recovery
operations where the protection of
the environment was the key issue.
The first one was for the removal of
oil and other pollutants from the
Spinningdale, a fishing vessel which
ran aground near St. Kilda. The
second contract was for the recovery
of wreckage from the Robson Bight
Ecological Reserve in Canada.
These objects, including a truckload
of gasoil, were lost in water with a
depth of 350 meters. Mammoet
Salvage and its partner Global Diving
and Salvage of Seattle were awarded
the contract after a tender by the
government of British Columbia in
Canada. Mammoet Salvage has also
been awarded the contract in the
event of salvage of the submarine
U-864 by the Norwegian Coastal
Administration (NCA). This German
time bomb from the World War II
carries 70 tons of mercury and has
been lying at a depth of 150 meters
in Norwegian waters for over half
a century.
36 37
“ We’re here
to stay”
In the middle of 2008, rather than at the end of the year as originally planned,
Mammoet’s management decided to continue the salvage activities. In
essence, this meant that Managing Director Fokko Ringersma and his team
successfully completed Mammoet Salvage’s most difficult challenge: to set
up a leading salvage company in three years, starting from scratch. And they
have certainly been successful.
At a time when the future of some large
salvage companies appears to be uncertain,
Mammoet has made a clear commitment
to continuing its salvage activities. And
Fokko Ringersma underlined that they are
going full steam ahead: “In the first few
years Mammoet Salvage mostly focused
on removing wrecks (wet salvage) but in
future we also want to enter the emergency
response market where every second
counts.” By expanding the activities into
dry salvage, Mammoet Salvage will be
able to serve its clients with a full range of
salvage and recovery services. “We will
continue to stand out with our innovative
approach, which combines sophisticated
engineering solutions and effective cooperation
with clients and suppliers. We mostly
work in partnership with our clients, rather
than the base of tenders and ‘hit & run’
projects. Where possible, we like to spend
more time to develop the best solution
with the client, in technical and commercial
terms. Our clients are pleasantly surprised
by this new approach to salvage operations,
which breaks with the established customs
in the industry.”
A major operator
Mammoet Salvage has quickly developed
into a major operator, one of the world’s
five largest salvage companies. In wreck
removals we are even at the top. Since the
start of the company we have completed
almost fifty projects, a number of which
received worldwide attention due to the
revolutionary technical solutions we
provided. Ringersma continued: “We are
particularly interested in the largest and
most complex jobs. That’s where our
dedicated and specialist engineers can
really make a difference. We also benefit
from the synergy with other parts of the
Mammoet group. We can rent and hire out
equipment within the group, which means
that we operate at lower costs. The United
Experience, the availability of heavy lifting
equipment, our worldwide network and the
reputation Mammoet gained in the
salvage business with the recovery
of the Kursk are also invaluable.”
Major investments
Mammoet Salvage is now busy
expanding the business. “Because
we have completed so many
projects already we have been able
to purchase equipment earlier
than originally planned and our
position in the market is now even
stronger than we expected. We are
making significant investments in
lifting equipment and developing
customized plant such as our Deep
Water Recovery System, chain
pullers and the large winches we
are currently building for a major
project.” commented Ringersma,
who also has a large store of
salvage equipment available in
Schiedam. Even so, Mammoet
Salvage has made a clear decision