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MALAYAN
Towage and Salvage Corp. (Salvtug), the recovery firmed
hired by Sulpicio Lines Inc. for the sunken vessel MV
Princess of the Stars, said the salvage operation of the
said ship may reach from $50 million to $100 million.
Sulpicio
Lines earlier estimated the recovery operations would
cost P600 million.
Evelio
Villena, vice president of Salvtug, told reporters over
the weekend the salvage operation might cost between $50
million to $100 million, or P2.25 billion to P4.5
billion.
Salvtug
said they have accepted the contract to salvage Princess
and are now waiting for their overseas partners who will
arrive in the next few days to perform aspects of the
salvage operations.
Villena
said the high cost is just a part of the problem,
because the issue of who should shoulder the cost has
not yet been resolved.
Sulpicio
does not belong to any protection and indemnity (P&I)
club, which explains why there is no insurance coverage
to pay for the salvage operations.
A P&I
coverage—basically an insurance that covers all types of
damage sustained in a sea mishap, including cargoes,
salvaging and cleanup operations, for domestic shipping
firms —is not a requirement under Philippine
regulations.
Sulpicio’s insurance, provided by Oriental Assurance
Corp., covers only the hull, machinery and third-party
liability—the passengers.
There
are discussions that the government should shoulder the
expenses for the salvage operations so as to prevent the
ship from further harming the environment, including a
possible spill of its own fuel.
Based on
the observation of Capt. Rodolfo Estampador, chairman of
the Conference of Maritime Manning Agencies, the
government must pay for the retrieval of the toxic
cargo, as it may be harmful to the environment.
“Whatever expenses [are] incurred [should later on be]
charged to the ship’s owner, but the government should
immediately act on it,” he said.
Maritime
Industry Authority administrator Vicente Suazo Jr. on
Friday said the government may have to shoulder the cost
but will ask Sulpicio to reimburse the expenses later
on.
“There
are two ways for us to do this, Suazo said. The
government could force Sulpicio to pay outright the cost
of the ship’s salvage operations, especially if there is
immediate danger to the environment or to navigation in
that part of the sea.
“And
since there is one present danger to the environment, we
can ask them to pay,” Suazo said. The 23,824- gross-ton
Princess of the Stars sunk off Sibuyan Island on June
21, with most of her more than 800 passengers and crew
members believed to have been killed, after the vessel
allegedly sailed directly into the eye of Typhoon Frank.
It has a full load of cargoes, including the toxic
chemical endusulfan that was meant for Del Monte
Philippines. |
