SCALDIS, the Belgian subsidiary of Herbosch-Kiere, Jan De Nul Group and Deme carried out the salvaging of the Flinterstar. The Flinterstar was a cargo vessel belonging to the shipping company Flinter.
On 6 October 2015, the Flinterstar collided with an LNG tanker in Belgian waters in the North Sea, 8 miles off the coast of Zeebrugge. The Flinterstar left the Port of Antwerp with its cargo of steel sheets and crane parts, heading for Bilbao. The vessel lay in a busy shipping lane off the coast of Zeebrugge.
Although the wreck was lying upright on the seabed, it was cut into two sections. In short, the method of salvaging used consisted of lifting the two pieces and placing each one on a pontoon. While the cargo was being removed, lifting points/lifting chains/lifting belts were installed underneath the wreck. Each bit of the wreckage was lifted up by SCALDIS’ powerful crane vessel RAMBIZ (lifting capacity of 3300 tons) and placed on a transport pontoon so that it could then be taken away to a processing site.