VINCA GORTHON SALVAGE

In 1989 the roro ship ‘Vinca Gorthon’ sank in bad weather. The salvage operation for this ship was initially postponed, but eventually proved necessary because the wreck lay in a shipping lane for large ships. The ship had to be removed before November 2010. The British company Titan received the contract for this from Rijkswaterstaat.

Multimetaal contributed to this extensive project. The specific offshore work on pipes and constructions was already cut out for Multimetaal at the time.

Among other things, this consisted of:

• Welding together the shortened legs of the Klarrissa A & B (jack-up barges) to a length of 54 meters ø 2 mtr 60 thick.
• Manufacture of 2 compression beams which ensured that the two jack-ups would not move towards each other during the work at sea.
• Production of a number of skidder beams over which the heavy saw and hoisting chains scoured.

The work had not been completed in 2010. Therefore, another attempt was made after the storm season in 2011. Titan then called in Multimetaal again for the necessary manufacturing parts, 2 additional skidder beams, 10 300 ton pullers and about 40 fairleads (14,000 kg each). Ultimately, the North Sea kept hold of the Vinca Gorthon and parts of the ship are still lying on the seabed. Nature has since taken over and transformed it into a beautifully overgrown artificial reef.