PCG confident salvaging on USS Guardian up by March 23

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is confident that salvaging operations on a US ship that ran aground at Tubbataha Reef last Jan. 17, will be finished by March 23, as the salvors’ work is more than halfway finished.

“We are right on schedule. We can still meet the March 23 deadline,” said Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista, PCG Palawan District commander and head of Task Force Tubbataha.

Evangelista said good weather has allowed the salvors to proceed and make progress in their job. “We will continue to have favorable salvage operations for the next five days or until Wednesday next week,” he said.

He added that the salvors have almost finished removing the engines from the US Navy ship USS Guardian and would soon start working on the hull.

“We would not be touching the gas turbine generator right now. We would wait until we start cutting the hull because it is a difficult procedure… The salvage team would also start preparing for the cutting of the hull,” he said.

The USS Guardian’s hull measures 68 meters long and 12 meters wide.

The cut-off sections and debris have been transferred to the Archon Tide via the crane ship M/T Jascon 25. The Archon Tide has been bringing the parts to a second crane ship, M/T SMIT Borneo which, in turn, transfers the materials to a waiting barge, S-7000.

Parts removed from the USS Guardian, according to Evangelista, would be brought to a US naval facility in Sasebo, Japan.