The Hindu Business Line : m.v. Cheng Le Men floats back into sea

Mangalore, Sept. 13 The week-long struggle of the crew members of m.v. Cheng Le Men – which beached off Mangalore coast on September 7 – came to an end with the ship floating back into the sea after intensive efforts by various people concerned.

The salvage team from Singapore, SMIT International Salvage Company, was successful in bringing down tilt in the ship from 16 degrees (when it beached) to around two degrees at the time of floating it back.

Capt Mohan Kudari, Port Officer of Old Mangalore Port, told Business Line that at around 10 a.m. on Thursday two tugs from New Mangalore Port tied ropes to the ship and pulled it in the high tide. Then the ship came out very smoothly, and it was taken back to deeper waters. While two tugs from the New Mangalore Port were involved in the stabilisation process, one tug was kept stand-by.

Around noon, the ship was anchored 3.5 nautical miles away west of the mouth of Gurupur River in the limits of Old Mangalore Port, he said.

Surveyors coming today

Now the ship crew is waiting for the arrival of surveyors from Mumbai. The surveyors are expected in Mangalore by tomorrow. They will carry out the survey of the hull to see that whether there is any puncture. After that they will take up stability calculations.

The week-long trauma began last Thursday (September 6) when the China-bound m.v. Cheng Le Men, with 16,000 tonnes of iron ore cargo, developed listing (tilting) seven nautical miles away from the Mangalore coast.

The tugs from the New Mangalore port, which were pressed into service, helped in preventing the ship developing further listing.

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