MV Tricolor
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Nosac Sun |
| Builder: | Tsuneishi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd, Japan |
| Yard number: | 589 |
| Launched: | 3 March 1987 |
| Identification: | IMO Number 8600181 |
| Fate: | sold |
| Career (Norway) |  |
| Name: | Tricolor |
| Owner: | Capital Bank, Scotland |
| Acquired: | 1996 |
| Fate: | sank following collision |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Single screw PCTC (Pure Car Truck Carrier) |
| Tonnage: | 49,792 gross register tons (GRT) |
| Length: | 190 m (620 ft) |
| Beam: | 32.2 m (106 ft) |
| Draught: | 9.12 m (29.9 ft) |
MV Tricolor was a 50,000 tonne Norwegian-flagged vehicle carrier built in 1987, notable for having been involved in three English Channel collisions within a fortnight.
Contents |
[edit] History
The MV Tricolor was originally launched as the Nosac Sun.[1]
[edit] Collision and sinking, 14 December 2002
During the early hours of 14 December 2002, while traveling from Zeebrugge to Southampton with a load of nearly 3,000 automobiles, she collided with the Kariba, a 1982 Bahamian-flagged container ship. The Kariba was able to continue on, but Tricolor sank where she was struck, some 20 miles north of the French coast in the English Channel. While no lives were lost, the ship remained lodged on her side in the mud of the 30 metres (98 ft) deep waterway. A third vessel, the MV Clary was alleged to have contributed to the collision in subsequent litigation as having caused an "embarrassment of navigation".[2]
Following the sinking and due to the location in a busy point of a shipping lane (the location was on the edge of a turning-point within the Traffic Separation Scheme or TSS of the English Channel) the wreck was initially guarded by the French police vessel Glaive and HMS Anglesey in addition to two salvage vessels and three wreck buoys.[3]
The Channel is one of the busiest seaways in the world and, despite standard radio warnings, three guard ships, and a lighted buoy, the Dutch vessel Nicola struck the wreck the next night, and had to be towed free. After this, two additional patrol ships and six more buoys were installed, including one with a Racon warning transponder. However, on 1 January 2003, the loaded Turkish-registered fuel carrier Vicky struck the same wreck; she was later freed by the rising tide.
[edit] Salvage
The salvage operation of the Tricolor was led by the Dutch company Smit International, and took well over a year. Starting in July 2003, the operation was declared complete on October 27, 2004. The salvage method included a carbide-encrusted cutting wire used to slice the wreck into nine sections of 3000-tonnes each. This technique was similar to one Smit had used in salvaging the Russian submarine, K-141 Kursk.
C.T. Systems, together with Thales Navigation, handled the navigational aspects of the operation. The positioning equipment provided the required locational accuracy and after using a side scan sonar, the debris had been located and all the relevant positional information converted to a chart, enabling a systematic search and recovery of the remaining debris.
The cargo of 2,871 new cars – mostly from premium German and Swedish manufacturers including BMW, Volvo and SAAB – was removed from the wreck and destroyed, approximately £30m (representing a retail value of £60m) worth. Most oil was removed from the ship's tanks soon after it sank, but during the salvage there was a small 540-tonne oil spill, sparking concern.
[edit] Sister ships
- MV Trinidad
- MV Trianon
[edit] References
- ^ "SP Shipbase - Tricolor". 28 December 2005. http://www.skipslistene.no/prog/skip.asp?id=8600181. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
- ^ "In re Otal Investments - m/v "Kariba"". 8 July 2005. http://www.onlinedmc.co.uk/in_re_otal_investments_-_m_v_kariba.htm. Retrieved 15 November 2009.[dead link]
- ^ "Hansard Volume 642 cc782-4 782". 19 December 2002. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/2002/dec/19/english-channel-collisions. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
[edit] External links
- Supplementary report to the inquiry into the collision between the car carrier Tricolor and the container vessel Kariba on 14th December 2002 near Westhinder (Archive) - Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer
- Rapport d’enquête complémentaire Abordage entre le navire transporteur de voitures TRICOLOR et le porte-conteneurs KARIBA (French) (Archive) - Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer
- "New Tricolor spill spotted." BBC. Monday 8 September 2003.
- Photos of the wreck
- High-resolution photos of the sliced hull
Coordinates: 51°22′00″N 2°12′07″E / 51.3666667°N 2.20194°E
