During a severe winterstorm at the Atlantique, the vessel ’TK Bremen’, anchored south off Lorient, drifted and beached at the coast of Erdeven, France.
Grounded in shallow waters
Immediately the Authorities had ordered for the tug 'Les Abeilles Bourbon' to assist in the situation, however the vessel had grounded already and the area was too shallow even for the vessel to come close for rescue.
Severely damaged vessel SMIT Salvage was in close contact with Les Abeilles and Owners, after which SMIT was contracted on a LOF 2011 contract for salvage services with Les Abeilles being engaged as Subcontractor. The vessel was inspected and found damaged in such severe state that the vessel could neither be pulled off nor refloated. Oil removal operation
The first priority for the salvage team, SMIT and Les Abeilles was to combat further oil pollution. After 5 days of pumping operations all the remaining pumpable oil residues were successfully taken off the casualty. As the vessel was declared a constructive total loss, the vessel will be demolished in the next few months.
