Paul Russ to be towed out

With worsening weather mounting, the U.S Coast Guard, CNMI Homeland Security, and representatives for the grounded commercial cargo vessel Paul Russ gave the go—on the recommendation of the U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal team—for plans to pull out the grounded vessel and bring it port-side last night.

The window of operation was planned for 8pm and 11pm last night, according to Marvin Seman, CNMI office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management special assistant.

Three tugboats provided by the Paul Russ were set to pull the vessel around that time, he said.

Seman cited “Murphy’s Law”—which states that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong—to explain the reasoning behind their decision to pull out the grounded vessel.

“We just don’t have any options or room for failure right now. If we leave it there, that vessel is going to get pounded, [it’s] gonna eventually breach that hull, we’re gonna eventually have an oil spill or a vessel dead in the water because it can’t move or it’s going to sink in the channel,” he said.

He expressed confidence in the operation, giving it a “high probability” that the vessel will be portside before morning.

“The reason why we’re pushing hard to get this out is because the weather is not in our favor. Right now we’re looking at six-foot sea swells outside,” Seman said last night.

He also noted “the pressing issue” of supplies coming into port, which was closed due to the discovery of unexploded ordnance near and around the vessel.

“This is what keeps the island going,” he said, referring to the seaport.

He said, though, that no commercial vessels were scheduled to arrive yesterday, with the next available shipment coming in toward the weekend.

On yesterday’s operations, Seman said Navy EOD arrived for a briefing, with their team revealing photographs taken of the site. From there, the Navy came up with an assessment plan and, after news of uncooperative weather, the decision to pull the vessel out immediately was given.

A concern on Wednesday was discovery of unexploded ordnance around the vessel.

However, the World War II torpedoes found were “degraded,” according to Seman, and the rest of the ordnance found were “rusted out.”

He said the ordnance is not expected to explode when the vessel is towed.

Seman said the vessel would be brought portside for assessment to ensure its stability.

As for a plan B, he said there are contingency plans that have been prepped in case of an oil spill or structural damage.