Removal of the wreck Victoria at Sandy Ground

July 12, 2022

SANDY GROUND: The cleaning, dismantling and removal of the wreck Victoria by the company Koole Contractors began last Friday.

The ship had severely damaged a house on Lady Fish Street in Sandy Ground during the passage of Hurricane Irma and has remained there since the natural disaster, turning the surroundings into an open-air dump and making the wreck a landfill. The company in charge of the removal of the sailboat of about thirty meters long and weighing about one hundred tons, the Dutch Koole Contractors, was chosen by the Collectivity within the framework of the “End of Life Vessels (ELV)” contract to clean up the wrecks on the French side.

For a contract worth 5.5 million euros, 4.23 million of which came from European funds, with the objective of removing 140 abandoned wrecks and creating six permanent jobs for six young people from St. Maarten in integration, 55 wrecks have already been removed from St. Maarten waters, dismantled and transferred to the eco-site since May 30. The sailboat Victoria, whose owner has been stripped of his rights, will be added to the list. Alain Richardson, first vice-president of the Collectivity in charge of the Economy and Resources, visited the Koole Contractors team on the site of the construction site, exchanging with the employees on the procedure to follow and the progress of the cleaning of the lagoon.

The professionals began with the Victoria’s rickety, rotting wooden pole, removing it and cutting it down on site. Koole Contractors employees then set about emptying the interior of the boat to proceed shortly with the removal of the engine, a delicate maneuver that required cutting away part of the hull to facilitate access. All recyclable or polluting materials will be extracted and taken to the Dutch company’s treatment site. Two weeks will be necessary for the Koole Contractors team to finalize the dismantling of the Victoria, the pieces of which will then be removed by a barge and complete the clearing of the site. With 123 new wrecks or hazardous objects identified in the territory’s waters, the hard work of cleaning up will continue, with the creation of eight additional jobs for some specific operations.