Removal of the wreck of the El Maud boat

President Daniel Gibbs announced as soon as he took office in April 2017, the wreck of the boat El Maud, in Potence Bay in Galisbay, will soon disappear. Launched well before the passage of Hurricane IRMA, this public contract was awarded last July to the Dutch company Koole BV, for an amount of €395,000. The work began in mid-October and was completed.
The ship El Maud ran aground 100 meters from the shore, in approximately 4.5 meters of water, during Hurricane Lenny in November 1999 70 meters long and weighing 800 tonnes, the wreck has never been decommissioned and has deteriorated over the years. The forfeiture of property rights having been pronounced by the administrative authority (art. L5142-2 of the Transport Code), it allowed the community of Saint-Martin to act and proceed with the removal of this wreck.
The specifications provided for the sorting and evacuation of debris and demolition waste of all kinds and the restoration work on the seabed. The Company therefore had to produce a detailed methodological and organizational report indicating precisely the material and human resources implemented to carry out this work.
The selective sorting of materials and the evacuation of all debris from demolition is a legal obligation, in accordance with the Environmental Code (Art L541-24). The service provider was thus responsible for implementing the necessary means to guarantee the continuity of the evacuation channels and the recycling of materials, and carried out a complete cleaning of the seabed at the end of the project.
In addition to the wreck of the El Maud which has distorted the bay of Potence for 18 years, many ships were damaged by hurricane IRMA on September 6, and must be removed from coastal areas. The boating industry estimates the number of damaged boats at 1,000, of which 500 have been listed as wrecks.
The removal of El Maud is a strong sign of the commitment of President Gibbs and his team in favor of the rehabilitation and beautification of coastal areas.