On Sunday, cranes and other equipment are being sent to the place where the sunken frigate,Helge Ingstad, is located in Hjeltefjorden.A decision on the start of raising will be taken on Monday.
‘’The Navy, Defence Materials and salvage company, BOA,mobilised the crane lifts and other units out to the site on Sunday.This is in order to be as prepared as possible if a good enough weather window opens’’ said a message from the Armed Forces on Saturday evening.
Weather forecasts
The weather forecasts showed that the wind is settling down on Sunday,and indicates calm weather at the beginning of the coming week.Whether the weather window will be long enough to give the necessary time of five to six days to carry out the raising of “Helge Ingstad” is still uncertain.
‘’A possible decision to initiate the raising operation is to be taken on Monday morning’’ the Armed Forces said.
The frigate KNM Helge Ingstad has been in Hjeltefjorden in Hordaland after it collided with the oil tanker, Sola TS,on Thursday the 8th of November.
Crane vessels
The raising will be carried out by the crane vessels, Gulliver and Rambiz being hooked to the frigate. It will be emptied of diesel in exposed areas and then gradually raised.The plan is to get Helge Ingstad over to the large, submersible barge,Boabarge 33, by which it will then be raised.
After being emptied of dangerous equipment, including ammunition,the frigate will be transported to the Haakonsvern on the barge.Only then will it be clear if the frigate is to be repaired or scrapped.
The salvage has been estimated to cost over half a billion kroner, and the price increases as the work is delayed.
As TV 2 said,the cost increases by at least NOK 3 million per day of delay.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
