A Liberian-registered dynamic support vessel (DSV) will arrive in the country on May 26 to finally drain the cargo fuel from motor tanker (MT) Princess Empress after it sank 400 meters deep off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro nearly three months ago and sparked a massive oil spill.
DSV Fire Opal will arrive in the country on May 26 to conduct siphoning operations and drain the industrial fuel oil from the sunken MT Princess Empress off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro.
Nineteen foreign specialized technicians will also arrive in the country to carry out the siphoning operations.
Liberian vessel arriving on May 26 to siphon oil from sunken MT Princess Empress
May 22, 2023 08:13 AM
At a glance
A Liberian-registered dynamic support vessel (DSV) will arrive in the country on May 26 to finally drain the cargo fuel from motor tanker (MT) Princess Empress after it sank 400 meters deep off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro nearly three months ago and sparked a massive oil spill.
(Photo: PCG)
Vice Adm. Rolando Lizor Punzalan Jr., PCG deputy commandant for operations, presided over a meeting at the PCG headquarters in Port Area, Manila on Monday, May 22, to coordinate and simplify the customs, immigration, quarantine, and security (CIQS) formalities for the arrival of DSV Fire Opal.
“The vessel departed Singapore on 19 May 2023 and will arrive in Subic on 26 May 2023,” said Rear Adm. Armando Balilo, PCG spokesperson.
DSV Fire Opal was chartered by the Malayan Towage and Salvage Corp. (MSTC), a PCG-accredited maritime solutions provider, and contracted by the Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Insurance Club, Shipowners Protection Mutual, the insurer of MT Princess Empress’ operator – RDC Reield Marine Services, Inc.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), MT Princess Empress, and MSTC.
“The officials agreed and committed to conducting ‘within-the-arrival-day’ CIQS formalities in Subic and at the sunken site in Naujan as it will take approximately two days to mobilize and prepare for its departure from Subic going to Naujan,” Balilo noted.
Nineteen foreign specialized technicians will also arrive in the country to carry out the siphoning operations.
DSV Fire Opal will be used to siphon the remnants of the 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil that were onboard the MT Princess Empress when it sank on Feb. 28.
It has yet to be determined how much oil remains onboard the vessel. Last month, it had been estimated that around 300,000 liters were still inside the containers of the tanker.
Authorities were hoping that once the siphoning operations are finished, the nightmare caused by the oil spill will also end, as well as the devastation it brought to the environment and the livelihood of the residents in Oriental Mindoro and other oil spill-affected areas such as Antique, Palawan, and Batangas.