​MV Theresa Arctic salvaged

Mombasa -July 13, 2017

The MV Theresa Arctic vessel which grounded off the Kilifi Port entrance channel two weeks ago was finally salvaged on Wednesday.

The ship which got jammed as a result of generator failure, was successfully rescued on July 12, 2017 following concerted efforts by KPA senior pilots, harbor masters, vessel agents and outsourced experts.

The salvaged MV Theresa Arctic 

At least seven tugboats (four owned by KPA) were used in tugging the vessel during the intensive exercise.

By 1400 hours the exercise was successfully concluded as the ship was berthed at the Port of Mombasa Berth No. 9.

CSC NIELSEN tugboat leads in the salvaging of MV Theresa Arctic

To succeed, KPA partnered with world renowned salvage experts, Smit Salvage of Netherlands and a local firm Alpha Logistics to undertake the task.

The two firms previously did a salvage operation on M.V.J S. Danuba in April/May 2015.

Smit dispatched a total of about 15 experts from Singapore, South Africa and Netherlands among them Salvage Master, Salvage Superintendent, Naval Architecture, Salvage Engineer and Riggers.

 Earlier, the ship's weight was lightened by transferring the cargo on board on her sister ship MV Theresa Dumai.

 At least seven tugboats were used during the intensive exercise.

The team of experts led by KPA's Head of Marine Operations Captain William Ruto has been working tirelessly since the ill-fated vessel got stuck on Monday, June 20, 2017. The vessel grounded off Kilifi 28 miles North of Mombasa while drifting outside, just the day she had been planned to berth at around 2300 hrs.

At one point the operation exercise was suspended due to very rough weather which could not allow for a safe ship to ship transfer.

The sourced Tug (CSC NIELSEN) played a big role during the fruitful salvage whose cost is estimated to be quite substantial.