After a busy winter period, the international TSAVLIRIS SALVAGE GROUP has again been active in recent weeks, with a number of notable salvage cases spanning the Aegean Sea, the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, as well as the Far East.

When the laden car carrier "ANIARA" was threatened by an engine room blaze off Piraeus on March 31, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel, TSAVLIRIS immediately dispatched its salvage tug "MEGAS ALEXANDROS" and a number of subcontracted vessels to assist the casualty. Early attempts to fight the blaze were hindered by deteriorating weather and the difficulty of attaching a tow line. Only after a "MEGAS ALEXANDROS" crew member was able - at some risk - to board the drifting car carrier from a zodiac rib and assist in attaching a tow line could the vessel be towed to shelter, where fire fighting could effectively be carried out. The vessel was safely anchored and the salvage operation was completed; "ANIARA" was subsequently towed to Eleusis by another contractor.

At the same time, TSAVLIRIS was called into action to salve a laden Panamax bulk carrier in the Atlantic after it was disabled due to steering problems that interrupted a voyage with 58,000 tonnes of fertilisers from Florida to India. The Group-operated mega-tug "FOTIY KRYLOV" was dispatched from the Azores under a Lloyd's Open Form (LOF) and took the bulker, the "CARAVOS HORIZON", under tow. The convoy, which was prompted to change course due to adverse weather, was expected to arrive in Piraeus at the end of May for the casualty to transship. During an underwater inspection en route it was found the vessel had lost her rudder.

The first week of May also saw the Greek based salvage Group respond to a grounding in the East China Sea, when the bulk carrier Thia Chryssoula stranded in waters off one of the Senkaku Islands. Under an LOF contract, Tsavliris mobilised the subcontracted tug "SALVAGE CHAMPION" and "ALEX" as well as anti-pollution equipment, a salvage team and divers. Initial efforts to refloat the bulker having failed, the Group has now dispatched two lightering vessels to the site and anticipates carrying out lightering of part of the vessel's cargo of 43,000 tonnes of steel in order to free the ship.

In other operations, a TSAVLIRIS-contracted salvage tug successfully assisted the immobilised vessel "HUI LONG" about 900 miles off the Brazilian coast, while an abandoned 16,000 dwt cargo ship carrying paper pulp, zinc ingots and sunflower seeds was taken under tow 250 miles off Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, a list caused by shifting cargo increased during the operation to 45 degrees, leaving the main deck under water up to the hatch covers. The vessel eventually sank.

In recent years, TSAVLIRIS has regularly been the world's busiest emergency marine salvage contractor. Currently it is the only major international private salvor keeping a fleet of dedicated salvage tugs on station in various locations. Its own powerful tugs stationed in Greece, the North and South Atlantic, and Red Sea are supplemented by regular subcontracting of regional salvage assets. An overall decrease in salvage cases worldwide makes it unlikely that the firm will match its LOF 'world record' of 50 contracts in a single year, set in 2000, but the Group continues to be the 'purest' salvor in the sector, despite some diversification in areas such as offshore work, wreck removal and ocean towage.