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Seafloor Cleanup: Watch Salvagers Dredge Up a Sunken Tanker Full of Cars

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Raising the Baltic Ace

Back in 2012, we had a maritime tragedy on our hands. Just off the coast of the Netherlands sailed the MV Baltic Ace, a 485-foot car carrier vessel (basically a giant, floating garage) that could be loaded with over 2,000 vehicles at a time. At the time, it had a crew of 24, and carried over 1,400 cars.


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Unfortunately, also just off the coast of the Netherlands was the Corvus J, a 440-foot cargo ship with a crew of 12. The two vessels collided, leaving the Corvus badly damaged but afloat, and the Baltic Ace, with 11 of its crew, at the bottom of the sea.

Two years later, though, the wreck was causing more problems: first, it is smack dab in the middle of one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. And second, it contained 540,000 liters of oil. So, obviously, it had to go.


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Dutch companies Boskalis and Mammoet Salvage pitched in together to bring up the pollution time-bomb, starting in May 2014, and managed to bring the whole shebang (boat, cars, and every bit of metal) up two months ahead of schedule despite winter storms and rough waters.

Here’s how they did it (video from SMIT Salvage):

News Source: Jalopnik, Huffington PostSMIT Salvage via Youtube