Sulpicio Lines signs deal with foreign firm to retrieve endosulfan cargo

MANILA, Philippines - Sulpicio Lines Inc., owner of the ill-fated MV Princess of the Stars, on Thursday signed a US$7.55-million contract with a foreign salvor firm to remove the hazardous endosulfan cargo from the sunken ship in two to three weeks. In a statement, the shipping firm said the contract was awarded to Titan Salvage Corporation. ‘’Titan Salvage will begin mobilizing personnel, heavy-lift wreck pullers, support tug boats and the necessary platform to complete the work in 30 days or less,’’ said Edgar Go, first vice president of Sulpicio Lines. Signatories in the contract were Go and Amit Wahi, the commercial manager of Titan Salvage. Search and retrieval operations for the victims of MV Princess of the Stars, which capsized off Romblon province during the height of Typhoon “Frank” last month, were halted after the discovery of the highly toxic endosulfan cargo, owned by Del Monte Philippines, in the ill-fated vessel. Sulpicio Lines said the removal of the toxic cargo from the ship will be their priority. ‘’As we committed to the (Department of Transportation and Communication) and Congress, we are proceeding with the priority removal of Del Monte and Bayer’s misdeclared cargo without quibbling about the legalities,” Go said. “Our foremost concern is to defuse the environmental time bomb. After this, equally urgent will be the retrieval by divers of bodies of the victims still inside our ill-fated ship,’’ he added. Negotiations with Titan Salvage have been conducted with the help of Transportation Undersecretary Ma. Elena Bautista, who is also head of Task Force Princess, Go said. Go further said Sulpicio Lines signed up Titan Salvage ‘’as soon as we could after completing a prudent assessment of its capability and salvage plans.” “We are also shouldering the high cost of extracting the toxic cargo despite our well-founded claim that Del Monte should pay for the cost of safely removing it from the waters of Romblon,’’ Go said. He added that they are confident that Del Monte will be made accountable for its action “at the proper time and legal venue.” Go also said that simultaneous with the effort to remove the toxic cargo from the ship’s cargo hold, Titan will also remove the remaining bunker oil in the ship. “The final step would be the removal of the shipwreck from the waters of Romblon,” Go said. - GMANews.TV