By Gabriela Baron
To intensify oil spill response operations in Oriental Mindoro, the Government of Singapore sent the positioning vessel (DPV) Pacific Valkyrie equipped with remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) Hydros in Calapan, the Philippine Coast Guard announced Tuesday, April 4.
The United States Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) contracted the DPV to conduct thorough surveys and three-dimensional mapping of the motor tanker (MT) Princess Empress which submerged off the waters of Naujan, Oriental Mindoro on Feb. 28.
DPV Pacific Valkyrie will attempt to execute medical measures to mitigate the oil release coming from the sunken vessel using ROV Hydros.
According to PCG, ROV Hydros is a 2,000-pound ROV designed to meet the rapid deployable salvage requirements to a maximum performance depth of up to 5,000 feet.
The control system has an ROV dynamic positioning capability enabling the vehicle to dive via computer instruction allowing hands-free position keeping, auto-translate movement, following pre-programmed routes, and go-to-position functions.
The DPV proceeded to the oil spill site in the vicinity waters off Naujan to start its operations.
Meanwhile, Philippine authorities and liaisons from the US Coast Guard met the SUPSALV officials to discuss the concept of operations, other operational details, and time elements that the Japanese Salvage Company will also be continuing for the bagging technique. -ag
