19-Jan-2022
X-Press Feeders, former operators of the container ship 'X-Press Pearl', can confirm that work to recover containers and debris lost overboard during the vessel fire, and subsequent sinking continues with over 60 open container loads of refuse already retrieved from the anchorage floor.
Resolve Marine commenced the recovery of the debris on September 14, 2021. Operations initially focused on an area outside of a 1,000-meter radius of the wreck with all identified objects safely removed bar one cluster of debris that's still being worked on.
With 80 per cent of the identified debris now recovered, the team has started to survey containers and debris inside a 1,000m radius/the wreck using an echoscope with subsequent recovery of identified targets. Salvors work through the day and night with two 12-hours shifts ensuring that the retrieval work progresses as quickly and efficiently as possible. Two members of Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority are with the recovery crews signing off on their work as it progresses.
At the wreck itself, the Shanghai Salvage Company is using divers and cranes to clear debris from around the sunken vessel in preparation for its dismantling and removal.
The salvage teams are being supported by response tugs on a 24-hour watch to deal with any form of pollutants that may be released during the recovery and salvage process. Regular water sampling is ongoing at the site.
The vessel owner's P&I insurers are still in discussions with the Sri Lankan government on a second compensation claim to help the local fishing community and others who have been impacted by the consequential costs of the fire and sinking of the vessel.
We continue to work with the Sri Lankan authorities towards the repatriation of the four remaining crew members who are currently housed at a hotel in Colombo. It's now been more than six months since they were evacuated from the X-Press Pearl, and for three of them, nearly 12 months since they signed onboard. The lengthy separation from their families and loved ones is taking a toll mentally and physically on both seafarers and their households alike. We continue to support them and their long-suffering families and hope to see them repatriated as soon as possible.
