Kolkata, Sep 16 (IANS): Nearly five months after it abandoned its ship that capsized at Berth 5 of Netaji Subhas Docks (NSD) in Kolkata after loading containers, the owners have now sought permission to tow it back to Bangladesh.

This came after the Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port (SMP) in Kolkata went through the trouble of salvaging the ship and the 165 containers that were onboard. Since March 24 this year, SMP has been losing revenue as it wasn't able to use the berth where MV MARINTRUST-01 capsized.

"MV MARINTRUST-01 was plying the Coastal Shipping Route between India and Bangladesh. It loaded containers at NSD on March 24 and then capsized. Some containers remained inside the vessel while others floated around. Initially, Marintrust Ltd of Bangladesh - the owner of the vessel - engaged M/s Gill Marine to salvage MV MARINTRUST-01 and the containers.

"SMP, Kolkata, granted permission for such salvage operations from April 2, as we needed to clear the berth. Due to the urgency we didn't consider an agreement under the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO). However, salvage operations had to be abandoned from April 22 after the owners abandoned the vessel. Only about 30 containers had been salvaged till then," a senior SMP official said.

The port management then explored legal options and salvage operations resumed on July 13, with a BIMCO agreement and Salvor's Liability Insurance in place. MV MARINTRUST-01 was finally set upright and all the 165 containers were salvaged. After this successful operation, Marintrust Ltd - which abandoned the ship - has sought permission to tow it back to Bangladesh.

"A huge amount of claim is pending on the account of the owner of MV MARINTRUST-01 and senior officials of SMP are looking into this. We have not yet finalised the charges. This will include all charges as per the coastal shipping agreement between the two countries and the opportunity loss to the port due to blockage of Berth 5. The ship also requires plying permission from the classification society and the DG Shipping (of both India and Bangladesh) to move out of the berth," the official added.