AT least 232,187 liters of oily waste were siphoned off from the sunken tanker Terranova last Wednesday, the Philippine Coast Guard reported yesterday.
It is the highest volume of oily waste so far collected by Harbor Star, the salvor firm hired by the owner of the ill-fated ship, since the siphoning operation started last August 19.
The waste collected last Wednesday also surpassed the 200,000 liters of oily waste that the salvor was aiming to siphon per day from the eight storage tanks of the vessel.
“We have already siphoned more than 800,000 liters (of oily waste). Yesterday was the highest (amount of oily waste) we’ve collected so far, we siphoned 230,000 liters,” said Coast Guard Bataan commander Lt. Cdr. Michael John Encinas.
The PCG, in a statement, said the exact volume of oily waste that has been collected since August 19 stood at 806,254 liters as of 8:30 p.m. last Wednesday.
“Hopefully we will be able to reach the September 4 target to siphon off all the 1.4 million liters of oil,” Encina said, referring to the fuel cargo of MTKR Terranova.
The tanker was on its way to deliver 1.4 liters of industrial fuel oil to Iloilo last July 25 when it was battered by huge waves, causing it to sink off Limay, Bataan.
Encina attributed the feat to the equipment brought in by the salvor to hasten the siphoning operation.
“It’s due to the booster pumps that we are utilizing recently. There were also adjustments adopted by our salvor,” Encina said.
“We are hoping to collect such (huge) volume of oil and reach the September 4 target to extract the contaminants,” he added.
Encina stressed that the oily waste being recovered is a mixture of oil and seawater. “It’s not purely oil. It’s oily waste, meaning it’s a mixture of seawater and oil,” he said.
Encina said the salvor has devised an initial plan on how to refloat the vessel when the siphoning process is completed.
“After the siphoning, we will proceed to salvage operation. We will salvage MTKR Terranova. Yes, there is already a plan. It will be discussed after the siphoning,” said Encina.
