Cleaning up sunk ferry mess expensive: Philippines.

This is from the Inquirer.
The cleanup of the mess left in the sunk ferry is going to cost millions. Hopefully Titan Salvage will be able to remove the toxic chemicals without too much trouble. For now Sulpico is not allowed to run its ferries according to this article and probably will only be allowed to carry cargo when it can run the ships.


Sulpicio signs deal for retrieval of ferry’s toxic cargo
Titan Salvage has month and a halfBy Riza T. OlchondraPhilippine Daily InquirerFirst Posted 19:46:00 07/24/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- After yet another extension in its deadline, Sulpicio Lines Inc. (SLI) has finally signed a contract to retrieve toxic cargo from the sunken MV Princess of the Stars.
SLI first vice president Edgar Go and Titan Salvage commercial manager Amit Wahil signed, at around 6:50 p.m. Thursday, the $7.55-million contract to retrieve the toxic cargo, bunker fuel and bodies still inside the ferry, SLI lawyer Victoria Florido said.
Florido said the company was "not at liberty" to disclose the name of the bank which gave the letter of credit assuring Titan's payment. This had been the bottleneck of negotiations for more than a week.
Officials estimated it would take about two weeks for Titan to mobilize its personnel and equipment, after which it would need about 30 days for the retrieval operations.
The current contract with Titan does not include the re-floating of the wreck, which would entail further negotiations.
Florido said the company chose to secure the contract for the retrieval of the toxic cargo first "to diffuse the ticking ecological bomb" as a result of the prolonged exposure to corrosive seawater of the highly.
Operations to retrieve the hundreds of bodies believed trapped inside the sunken ferry’s hull were stopped after it was learned that the ship had been carrying 10 metric tons of the highly toxic pesticide endosulfan owned by food company Del Monte.
Aside from this, another chemical shipment, this time owned by Bayer CropScience, was also onboard the vessel.
"First, the endosulfan and other toxic cargo will be removed. The bunker fuel will be removed next, and then the bodies that are still inside the wreck," Florido said.
In the meantime, grounded passenger ships of SLI may be allowed to sail with only cargo, SLI safety and quality assurance manager Nelson Morales said in a separate interview.
"We have not received official advice from Marina [Maritime Industry Authority], but as far as we know, if ever our passenger ships are allowed to sail again, it would just be to deliver cargo," he said. "This is just to maintain the flow of cargo throughout the country."

UN experts to start assessing toxic threat on Tuesday.

This is from abs-cbn.
This story is not on the mainstream western press and probably won't be unless this turns into another disaster. Not only are there several pesiticides involved as cargo in the container van but there is a lot of bunker fuel as well. The article is not too informative as to whether there is much if any leakage as yet. The situations sounds quite dangerous.


UN experts to start assessing toxic threat on Tuesday
Experts from the United Nations (UN) will spend a week assessing the environmental threat posed by the sunken ferry MV Princess of the Stars beginning Tuesday, an official said. Transportation and Communication Undersecretary Elena Bautista, head of Task Force MV Princess of the Stars, said the UN team will determine if there is a need to dispatch a bigger group of specialists to Sibuyan Island, Romblon to salvage the toxic endosulfan cargoBautista said she will meet with the foreign experts on Monday. “They will be there to make an assessment and join up with the team from Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources that has established a laboratory on site so that they can more regularly test the water samples,” she told ANC. The international team of experts arrived in the Philippines on Friday amid concerns that the highly toxic endosulfan, stored in a container van that is still in the ship's hull, plus 10,000 liters of bunker fuel, could cause a major ecological disaster. The three-member team -- a marine chemist, an eco-toxicologist and a civil protection expert -- will spend a week in the Philippines to assess the situation and determine priority needs, reports said.The experts were deployed jointly by the UN and the European Union (EU) at the request of Philippine authorities. An on-going threat In an interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said the government is testing the waters in the vicinity of the ship daily in an attempt to prevent food poisoning and other problems from breaking out in Romblon province. "The [environmental] threat is still there. It's an ongoing threat, so we are monitoring through testing of the water every day. That is the agreement in the task force," he said. Duque said the Philippine government sought the help of foreign experts from the UN and EU since the Philippines lacks the expertise and equipment in managing the environmental threat. "Well, we need as much support and assistance as we can to facilitate the mitigation and the resolution of the problem with regard to the sunken vessel, the recovery of the bodies inside the sunken vessel, the removal of the endosulfan pesticide, as well as the four other toxic insecticides inside the containers of the sunken vessel," he said.Asked about fears that the sea current may cause a regional toxic chemical spill, Duque said: "Well, it depends on the volume of the fuel that is there and the chemicals. And then you have the danger of mixture of the chemicals and the fuel." He said the government still does not know whether there is enough time left to avoid a second disaster from happening. "You're talking about modeling, what could happen after one month. Well, it's very difficult. We need to make some very careful assumptions as to what risks may increase over time, and the longer it takes to get the sunken vessel refloated, what could be the possible consequences," Duque said. "There are many possible consequences."