Preparations are underway for Resolve Fire & Hazard Response, Inc., a Resolve Marine Group. Inc., company, to host the 6th Annual Damage Control Olympics at their world-renown Shipboard Firefighting Training Center in Port Everglades, Florida on May 1, 2007.

The event, held in conjunction with annual Fort Lauderdale Fleet Week USA and McDonalds Air & Sea Show, is designed to test the abilities of US Navy damage control teams in several facets of shipboard firefighting and emergency response scenarios. Past participating personnel included damage control teams from the USS Shreveport, USS Cole, USS San Antonio, USS Oscar Austin, USS San Jacinto, USS Enterprise, USCG Confidence and the Canadian Navy's HMCS Preserver.

Events include Shipboard Fire Containment, Turnout Gear Donning and Shipboard Fire Search-and-Rescue and an Emergency Damage Control Scenario. These events are not only timed, but the teams are closely judged on their respective efficiencies and attention to detail they not only have to complete the tasks quickly, they have to complete them properly and in keeping with proper firefighting guidelines.

Teams earn points based on placement overall for each event: 1st place teams in each event score 10 points; 2nd place teams score 7 points; 3rd place teams score 5 points; 4th place teams score 3 points and 5th place teams score 1 point.

In 2006, a stunning victory by the crew from the Canadian Navy's HMCS Preserver scored a record-setting 40 points.

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Resolve is proud to announce that it is now offering next-generation training to current and new customers with its recently purchased, state-of-the-art Augmented Reality-based, mobile Harmless Hazards Training System.


For as little as $150 per firefighter, per day, Resolve Fire & Hazard, Inc. can provide on-site; at your own Department or at another convenient location; advanced, SAFE hands-on First Responder training using real fire fighting equipment in the following six key training areas:




Resolve Fire & Hazard Response, Inc. is recognized nationally and internationally for its quality and breadth of state-of-the-art training for both land-based and maritime First Responders. Please call or e-mail for a quote or to schedule training at your Department:


Keith Wilson, ART Training Coordinator (954) 658-6641 (kwilson@resolvemarine.com)


Mike Holloway, Director, Resolve Fire & Hazard Response, Inc. (954) 463-9195 (mholloway@resolvemarine.com)

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Resolve has entered the arena of Coral reef restoration, working with Coastal Recovery by Farrell to focus both on building a 3 dimensional structure necessary to create marine habitat, and on maintain a stock of live coral for transplantation. When live coral is placed on artificial reef structures, the coral overgrows these structures, gradually transforming an artificial creation into a thriving natural coral reef .

Staff Marine Biologist Dr. Michael Haley has been with University of Miami biologists to rehabilitate damaged corals and restore live corals to damaged sites in South Florida. Mike and his team have been harvesting corals growing on the Osborne Tire Reef off Ft. Lauderdale, which consists of more than 2 million tires put down in the 1970s, and which is slated for removal. Resolve/Coastal Recovery carefully removes the corals growing on top of these tires and transports them to the University of Miami's laboratory on Rickenbacker Cay, one of the only facilities in the country that can successfully rear and fragment corals. In the next two months, Resolve will transplant corals grown in the lab. back into the sea on a damaged site to study how this technique can help damage from ship groundings.

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Coral reefs are the most complex marine ecosystem in the world, but many are damaged or declining at an alarming rate. Restoring damaged reefs is important to preserving the diversity of the marine environment for future generations; at Resolve, we have the ability to not only rebuild reefs, but even to create a completely new reef at locations where they were not previously found.

Coral reef restoration work at the Resolve Marine Group, working with Coastal Recovery by Farrell, focuses both on building the 3 dimensional structure necessary to create marine habitat, and on maintaining stocks of live coral for transplantation. Once live coral has been placed on artificial reef structures (photo of EcoReef modules), the coral overgrows these structures (photo of live coral on EcoReef modules), gradually transforming an artificial creation into a thriving natural coral reef .

Staff Marine Biologist Dr. Michael Haley is experienced at artificial reef research and design. Dr. Haley works with University of Miami biologists to rehabilitate damaged corals and restore live corals to damaged sites in South Florida. Mike and his team have been harvesting corals growing on the Osborne Tire Reef off Ft. Lauderdale (photo of coral on tires), which consists of more than 2 million tires put down in the 1970s, and which is slated for removal. Resolve/Coastal Recovery carefully removes the corals growing on top of these tires and transports them to the University of Miami's laboratory on Rickenbacker Cay, one of the only facilities in the country that can successfully rear and fragment corals. In the next two months, Resolve will transplant corals grown in the lab. back into the sea on a damaged site to study how this technique can help damage from ship groundings.

Resolve and Coastal Recovery also provide modifications that broaden the range of habitats available for marine life on other types of artificial reefs, such as sunken ships. Enhancing the deck space on the Texas Clipper (photo link; date), scheduled for sinking off Brownsville, Texas in early 2007, will increase fine scale habitat suitable for small and juvenile fish. At our own expense, Resolve will place ceramic reef modules at strategic locations on the deck to make the Texas Clipper a more complex and complete artificial reef. Future possibilities for this vessel include transplanting coral onto the modules on this ship.

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The ex-Oriskany is a 910 ft decommissioned US Navy Essex Class aircraft carrier that was built after World War II and had decorated service in the Korean War and Vietnam War eras. The carrier is one of many ships in the US Navy decommissioned fleet. The US Navy's Inactive Ships Program (PMS-333) chose this vessel as the first of its kind to be disposed of as an artificial reef in accordance with the EPA's Best Management Practices for reefing ships. RESOLVE along with a partner company was chosen as the contractor to perform this important environmental remediation and sinking support. This project was truly ground breaking and the first of its kind as a large scale US Navy funded artificial reef project. The initial contract for environmental remediation commenced in January 2004. RESOLVE towed the vessel from Beaumont, Texas to a site in the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas to perform the remediation. The remediation project was massive during which time a staff of over 150 personnel opened and cleaned all the tanks on the vessel (500+), removed a large quantity and variety of hazardous materials, and performed a variety of other specific remediation functions including lead paint removal, PCB removal, etc. Once the base remediation contract was successfully completed, the Navy extended the contract to remove the entire wood flight deck, which contained very high PCB levels. The RESOLVE team was then tasked to tow the carrier to the Port of Pensacola, Florida where final preparations were made by RESOLVE to sink the vessel off of Pensacola as an artificial reef which was successfully accomplished on May 17, 2006.

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On November 11th, 2005 a double-hulled tank barge struck underwater debris which gouged a 35' x 6' hole in the vessel's starboard bow, puncturing both hulls and damaging the number one cargo tank. The vessel subsequently flooded and was intentionally grounded approximately 30 miles offshore of Cameron, Louisiana in approx. 50-55 feet of water.

The vessel continued to progressively flood and list to starboard. Late on November 14, the barge capsized and rolled to starboard, coming to rest upside-down, with the bow aground and the stern floating. The vessel was carrying approximately 5 million gallons of #6 fuel oil.

Resolve was called upon to provide a detailed salvage plan including all resources as well as the expertise required to lighter the cargo and bring the hull safely afloat and deliver it to safe harbor. This was an extremely challenging project in that the casualty was approximately 30 miles offshore and the work was undertaken in the dead of winter with freezing temperatures, high winds and rough seas. Resolve has built its reputation by taking on this type of unique project and was thus the most qualified emergency salvage contractor to tackle this job.

Resolve provided a highly skilled team of Salvage Masters, Divers and Technicians as well as all services including a heavy weather mooring plan, dive surveys to assess damage and determine a plan for patching and plugging the hull; damage control, systems design and installation, dewatering, selective ballasting, contaminated ballast control, refloating, debris recovery, pollution control and safe towing of the vessel to port while minimizing the risk of any further oil leakage or pollution.

Upon delivery of the vessel to Theodore, Alabama, Resolve was tasked to provide dockside tank cleaning for the inverted vessel.

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A 150' towing vessel began taking on water when it struck a submerged object in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore of Cameron, Louisiana. The flooding began in the vessel's engine room about 20 miles offshore; she was carrying approximately 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel oil. The vessel later sank in about 40 feet of water with about 2 feet of the vessel remaining visible.

Resolve Towing and Salvage (Resolve) was contacted by the tug owners to take initial salvage response actions. Resolve Divers identified a tear in the forward starboard side of the engine room between the bilge keel and rub rail, developing from a scrape to a crack to a 9' wide tear with a rupture length of approximately 3 feet. Resolve mobilized all necessary fuel removal assets and Divers proceeded to seal all sources of continued fuel oil discharge. For manhole accessible tanks, tank covers were removed for conversion into salvage hatches. For the remainder of the tanks Resolve used a series of hot taps, systematically discharging fuel oil from fuel oil tanks and replacing it with water to maintain ballast and displacement. Recovered fuel was transferred to an offshore supply vessel then to storage tanks onshore.

After lightering was completed, Resolve raised the vessel using a combination of dewatering of tanks and lift bags and secured the vessel in preparation for towing, in her inverted position, to safe harbor at Lake Charles, Louisiana. Upon safe arrival dockside, Resolve completed the de-fueling of the vessel and righted her employing a combination of water ballast in off-center fuel tanks and two crane.

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A crew from Resolve Marine Group, Inc., from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., successfully recovered a Caterpillar 777D Off-Highway Truck from a lake on Pennsuco Quarry in Medley, Fla., Sept. 2. The 777D, an 80 ton haul truck, ended up at the bottom of the lake after a driver lost control of the vehicle Aug. 13. The lift came on the heels of a comprehensive plan which included underwater dive surveys and fashioning a specially-made device to lift the truck. The means by which the truck was lifted was especially important, due to the fact that the truck's steering mechanism had to remain undisrupted at the request of officials investigating the cause of the accident. Given these demands, the Resolve team quickly went to work to design the device, which had to be made sturdy and large enough to fit over the truck's front and rear ends. The appliance was built by Resolve master welder, Jim Hartwick at the Resolve warehouse in Fort Lauderdale. The massive vehicle, which sank upright on a rock bed, was sitting in an estimated 80 feet of murky water. The jagged rocks lining the lake, coupled with the lack of visibility due to the depth and cloudiness of the water, made the project more difficult than what was initially assessed. Conditions further worsened with the passing of Hurricane Katrina on Aug. 25, but the crew of commercial divers, marine salvage technicians and crane operators persevered. Just four days after returning to the worksite, the crew, demonstrating exceptional teamwork, successfully extracted the vehicle with the steering mechanism unscathed. The truck was then returned to the owners for further investigation.

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Firefighters from Resolve Fire & Hazard Response, Inc. led a fire attack team from the US Coast Guard and a municipal fire department to extinguish a smoldering wood pulp fire aboard the M/V Star Eagle, a 589 foot Norwegian flagged, open hatch, single deck bulk carrier, off the coast of Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The fire occurred in the ship's number one cargo hold and it took four days to completely extinguish the fire. The cargo hold was filled with wood pulp, the final raw product before made into paper and the Star Eagle has nine holds with combined pulp bale capacity of 42,000 cubic meters.

Resolve's responsibility was to make sure the fire was completely out, leaving the ship in a safe manner. Resolve met with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), local officials, and ship crew, and created an operational plan to begin temperature monitoring to determine the temperature of the cargo hold. Equipment and personnel from the Unalaska Fire Dept (UFD) and the damage control team from Coast Guard cutter Morgenthau, were utilized. Resolve conducted a visual survey of the exterior of cargo hold #1, and a visual survey of the hold from the port ballast tank utilizing confined space entry techniques. Resolve conducted atmospheric monitoring of the port and starboard tunnels, measuring oxygen levels, explosive gases, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide was released into the holds to smother the still smoldering pulp while the Morgenthau damage control team conducted boundary cooling on port and starboard sides of cargo hold to cool the steel.

There was a 60 degree temperature difference between the outside air (25 degrees Fahrenheit with sleet) and the bundles (80-90 degrees Fahrenheit). The bundles were still warm two days after cargo hold opened. The warm bundles provided the potential for tunnel, where slow combustion can occur due to the slow smoldering generating heat in the middle of the bales. The USCG removed the damaged bundles from the cargo hold and placed them in a container on deck for transport to their final destination. About 100 bundles were ruined and removed from the cargo hold. According to the USCG, the cause of the fire was determined to be clad welding in an adjacent ballast tank.

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Resolve is well underway on the Progressive Pipeline project which involves the removal of eleven miles of obsolete pipeline from the Gulf of Mexico. Utilizing Global Positioning Devices with pinpoint accuracy, Resolve approach to this project is first, having divers locate and expose the abandoned pipeline which lay in 15 to 20 feet of water, buried 3 to 10 feet beneath the sea bed. This is an extremely safety sensitive operation due to the fact that the obsolete 10 inch pipe line and new operational 20 inch pipelines lay next to each other and in several locations the obsolete pipeline runs under operational pipeline. Once the location of the old pipeline is tracked and identified the task of cutting it into 40 foot sections is begun. In total, Resolve will locate, recover and transport 1,456 forty-foot sections of obsolete pipe, each weighing approximately 3,500 pounds. Upon arrival by barge in Sabine Pass, TX the pipeline sections are cut again and disposed of as scrap metal.Equipment being utilized on this project includes anchor handling tugs, global positioning devices, crane barges, offshore supply vessels, and crew accommodation vessels as well as a cadre of Resolve's specialized equipment deployed specifically for this endeavor. Resolve divers are working around the clock and enduring harsh winter conditions including frigid water temperatures, 25 to 30 knot winds, 5 to 7 ft seas and ice on the decks of the vessels. These extreme conditions also make this job especially challenging for vessel and offshore crane operations. Not withstanding these conditions, Resolve's team is up to the task and we estimate that we will deliver all 1,456 sections of the pipeline to Sabine Pass on schedule.

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The ALBERT E. WATTS was a 592 ft, 4500 ton (lightship) T-2 tanker type (World War II era) vessel. The WATTS had been moored in Mobile, Alabama for approximately 30 years and had been used by the U.S. Coast Guard as a fire test platform. The vessel's condition was extremely poor, and the vessel contained a large quantity of hazardous materials including asbestos, PCB's, lead paint, mercury, oily waste, etc. The vessel was partially submerged, sitting on the bottom, and its condition precluded it from being towed to any facility. The vessel represented the worst and highest risk vessel in MARAD's extensive Reserve Fleet.

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Resolve Marine Group, Inc. and their partners SvitzerWijsmueller, mobilized to assist a 170 meter Bulk Carrier which grounded on a protected coral reef off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. The salvage team immediately conducted an assessment of both the vessel and her cargo. This entailed Resolve's Divers and Marine Biologist conducting dive surveys of the vessel and the coral reef to ensure that the vessel could be removed with minimal environmental impact. The development of proper engineering and environmental protection plans were a major part of this project with input from the U. S. Coast Guard, the State of Florida, and Broward County personnel as well as representatives from the vessel's owners. The final Salvage Plan called for lightering 2,000 metric tons of cargo to a barge with ballast concurrently added to keep the Clipper Lasco firmly aground until time to re-float the vessel. Upon completion of the lightering operations, Resolve/SvitzerWijsmuller personnel discharged the ballast water as the high tide approached. Utilizing three tugs, the vessel was safely re-floated and towed to safe anchorage to conduct a dive survey to ensure that the underwater hull of the vessel was completely intact. Upon completion of the survey the vessel was safely towed into Port Everglades to complete the discharge of cargo.

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Resolve Towing and Salvage, Inc., a division of Resolve Marine Group, Inc., deployed its assets in response to a grounded vessel near the Texas coast July 20. The 691-foot Integrated Tug and Barge (ITB), which was transporting 330,000 barrels of premium and regular unleaded gasoline to Port Everglades, ran aground 1.5 miles from the Sabine Pass Jetties. Upon the Resolve Salvage crew's arrival, surveying and engineering assessments were made and it was determined that nearly a third of the cargo needed to be carefully removed from the vessel in order to refloat it. Under the guidance of Resolve Salvage Master Frank Leckey, the nine man transferred the product, developed the refloat plan and hired additional floating assets.The seven-day evolution resulted in the successful transferring of 100,000 barrels of gasoline to a barge, after which five tugboats towed the grounded ITB back into the Sabine Pass Channel. Upon refloating the ITB safely, Resolve's Salvage Master returned custody of the vessel to the ship's pilots. Integrated Tug and Barges are barges that are pushed by specially-configured tugboats. When the tug and barge are connected, the two form a single unit that functions as a ship. There were no reports of accidents, injuries or discharges of pollution as a result of the incident. Inspectors determined the vessel showed no signs of damage as a result of the grounding. The cause of the incident is being investigated by the Coast Guard Marine Safety Office of Port Arthur, Texas. Resolve Marine Group, Inc. has been in business nearly 25 years and offers such services as emergency marine salvage, towing and lightering services. The company also facilitates dozens of marine special projects annually, including the sinking of artificial reefs.

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Resolve Marine Group, Inc. has deployed crews and assets to the Gulf Coast region in response to some of more than 100 vessel casualties resulting from the onslaught of Hurricanes Katrina/Rita. As soon as Sept. 2, just days after the Category 4 storm plowed through the Louisiana/Mississippi coastlines, Resolve crews were on hand to respond to a 198-meter vessel grounded in the Mississippi River. Due to the high volume of vessel casualties, Resolve has planned to be very busy in the Gulf region for several weeks to come. Aside from the hundreds of thousands of people Hurricane Katrina left homeless in the region, the storm has crippled shipping operations in the Mississippi River, causing spikes in the gasoline prices and other goods reliant upon the steady flow of the river. Resolve is committed to helping those ship owners who have entrusted us to with the salvage of their vessels and we remain devoted to doing our part in ensuring the timely resumption of shipping operations in the area.

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Resolve's team reponds to a 150' towing vessel which struck a submerged object in the Gulf of Mexico. The vessel began flooding approximately 20 miles offshore while loaded with approximately 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel oil. The vessel eventually sank with only 2 feet of the vessel remaining visible. Resolve Towing and Salvage responded and identified a 9' crack with a 3' rupture. The Resolve Team mobilized equipment to lighter the fuel and seal the hull to prevent further discharge. Upon completion of lightering the vessel was raised using a combination of dewatering of tanks and lift bags and subsequently secured in preparation for towing, in her inverted position, to safe harbor. Upon the vessel's arrival, Resolve completed de-fueling of the vessel and righted her using a combination of water ballast in off-center fuel tanks and two cranes.

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Resolve Marine is currently in the process of preparing the Texas Clipper for use as an artificial reef off the coast of south Texas. Resolve began work on this project in October 2006 when we made the vessel safe for towing and subsequently towed her to Brownsville, Texas for the remediation phase of the work. While in Brownsville, Resolve will ensure the vessel is safe for divers, remove all hazardous materials in accordance with EPA's Best Management Practices, will engineer a Sink Plan and will excute that plan to set the vessel in an upright position off the coast of Texas.

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On July 12, 2007, Resolve Towing & Salvage, Inc., (a subsidiary of Resolve Marine Group, Inc.) responded to a 243 meter motor tanker which ran aground near Ambrose Light, off of Coney Island, New York. The tanker was outbound fully loaded with 548,000 barrels of Low Sulfur Fuel Oil (LSFO) when she reportedly had a steering malfunction and ran aground at approximately 0640hrs on July 12th.
 
Immediately upon notification, Resolve mobilized a team of salvage experts which arrived on site within hours of the casualty. Resolve salvage engineers, along with the SERT team from USCG worked through the day to develop a Salvage and Lightering plan and once approval was obtained from the USCG, the salvage team worked through the night to remove 120,000 barrels of product from the grounded tanker. Although there was no penetration to the cargo tanks, the vessel did suffer two breaches to the ballast tanks - damage that could have been caused by running over her own anchor.
 
Upon completion of the lightering and deballasting operations, the vessel was safely refloated during the high tide on Friday, July 13th, utilizing four local tugs. Resolve immediately commenced an underwater inspection of the ships hull in conjunction with local authorities and the vessel's classification society, ABS. Further planning was undertaken to prepare and obtain approval from USCG for the full discharge of cargo from the casualty.
 
Under the direct supervision of Resolve personnel, all 548,000 barrels of cargo was transferred on to another vessel to enable the WHITE SEA to safely transit light ship to a repair facility. Cargo transfer operations were completed and the vessel sailed from New York Harbor on the 28th of July bound for an undisclosed facility. In the words of COTP Sector NY, Capt Robert R. O'Brien, Jr, " This is what teamwork and partnership is all about".

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