Steel recovered from the Prestige

Steel recovered from the Prestige

The first piece of steel recovered from the wreck of the Prestige appears to refute allegations made by the Spanish government that the vessel was in poor structural condition.

ABS, the classification society, has learned that thickness measurements taken on board the recovery craft confirmed that the material met class rule requirements. The plate, now in the custody of the court in Corcubion, had a minimum thickness at least equivalent to the design scantling of 20.5mm.

The sample appeared to confirm that the interior coating of the plate was in good condition and that the plate had been subject to only mild exterior pitting from corrosion.

The Spanish press continues publishing reports of a fax sent to ABS by the relief master of the Prestige in August of 2002. This fax has only just been made public, a full year after the casualty.

The fax enumerates various mechanical and structural defects. “ABS has conducted an extensive electronic search of all fax transmissions received at that time and has no record of having received the alleged communication from the master,” said ABS vice president Stewart Wade. . He also pointed out that the confirmation message reproduced in the Spanish press, purporting to show the message had been received by ABS, carries a telephone number in Greece associated with the owner of the vessel.

The alleged presence of cracks in the Number 3 port cargo/ballast tank are of particular interest since this space was subject to extensive steel renewals at the special survey including the replacement of a substantial portion of the transverse bulkheads, repair and renewal of wasted sections of the longitudinal bulkhead, the renewal of sections of shell plating and renewal of corroded and damaged sections of the transverse web frames and plates.

“In fact, if the alleged cracks were present, this would further substantiate the ABS claim that the vessel suffered a weakening of the hull structure as a consequence of the extensive lightering activities in which it was engaged in St Petersburg at the time this message was apparently sent to the owner of the Prestige,” Wade added.