Belen

The 'Habib Express' was refloated on Oct 8 around midnight and returned back to deeper waters with assistance of the Dominican flagged tug 'Svitzer Monte Cristi' (IMO: 9788241), which had been called from Santo Domingo on Oct 4. The ship anchored off Cabo Rojo at 6.40 a.m. in pos. 17° 54.69' N 071° 41.97'W. The Dominican Navy had assets on site which supervised the operation, supported by the T&T Salvage LLC salvage company, the Dominican Svitzer Caribbean Companies and the Dominican Maritime Agency (MARDOM). The salvage was carried out under Lloyd's Open Form 2011 by T&T Salvage Limited which had been contracted on Sep 29. SCOPIC was invoked. Report with photo: https://dominicantoday.com/dr/economy/2019/10/08/dominican-navy-headed-rescue-of-container-ship-stranded-for-weeks/

The 'Habib Express', enroute from Miami to Puerto de Haina, Santo Domingo, ran aground with a cargo of containers at the coast of the small island Alto Velo southwest of La Beata at the southern coast of the Dominican Republic in the morning of Sep 12, 2019. The Navy command dispatched the patrol boats 'Orion - GC-109' and 'Rigel Ll-168' to assist the crew. As of Oct 1, the ship remained aground in pos. 17° 28.73' N 071° 38.90' W. The shipping company Antillean Marine, representative of the ship in the Dominican Republic, in combination with the Navy proceeded to hire a private company to tow the ship to the East Haina dock. Report with photo: https://dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2019/09/30/121220/