Watery fate: The iconic ‘Pulau Kapas’, which recently sank at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal in Butterworth. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
BUTTERWORTH: The task of salvaging and disposing of two old ferries at the Sultan Abdul Hakim ferry terminal looks to be more difficult than anticipated.
On top of salvaging the metal for scrap, there is the issue of the residual oils which must be salvaged without causing environmental pollution.
The degree of care needed, said a salvaging expert who declined to be named, meant the successful bidder might make slim profits or even suffer losses.
“It will be a costly operation as draining the oil residues from Pulau Kapas and Pulau Undan is a difficult task,” said the expert.
Pulau Kapas recently sank while berthed at the terminal here and less than a quarter of the ferry is sticking out of the sea.
Pulau Undan, also berthed here, is also non-operational and due to be salvaged.
“The salvager will need sophisticated cutting machines. Scrap from each 500-tonne ferry needs to be expertly cut and loaded on barges to be taken away by sea to be sold.
“Deducting unwanted portions, there might only be 350 tonnes of salvageable material. Expenses for the barges, equipment, divers and transport may make getting even RM300,000 in profits a tough exercise,” he added.
Penang Port Commission (PPC) general manager Datuk Dr Vijayaindiaran R. Visvalingam said the commission knew it would be a major operation and had decided to privatise it without expecting any returns.
“The first task will be removing residual oils from the ferries and disposing it at the Environment Department’s appointed recycling premises.
“The second and third tasks will be cutting the ferries and selling them for scrap,” he said.
Vijayaindiaran said PPC was racing against time to get the operation going as soon as possible, and a different model to undertake the operations would be looked into if there were no bidders for the project.
While Pulau Kapas and Pulau Undan have to be salvaged, questions remain as to the future of three other ferries.
“We are discussing with a private company to repurpose Pulau Paya, which is docked at the Raja Tun Uda ferry terminal, into a restaurant and Pulau Angsa for tourism purposes.
“However, we will need to look into scrapping both ferries along with Pulau Talang-Talang (presently in a dry dock in Lumut) if there are no takers as holding on to them for a long period does not make business sense and PPC is not in the tourism business,” he explained.
He said the Pulau Pinang ferry, which is in Bagan Dalam now, would be converted into a museum as part of PPC’s corporate social responsibility effort.
Responding to criticism on social media that PPC should have taken steps to preserve the ferries, he explained that Penang had no dry dock and it was a massive financial burden to maintain the ferries without purpose.
“That is why we requested proposals for takers of the ferries, but none came forward,” he noted.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said last Sunday that all six old ferries could be scrapped if no parties were interested in taking over or refurbishing them.
He said the decaying structures and engines of the ferries had rendered them unsuitable as public transport vehicles.
Last Wednesday, Pulau Kapas sank in the wee hours of the morning due to a rotting hull and corrosion which had set in since it was parked at PSAH.
PPC decided to salvage and scrap the ferry and another one, Pulau Undan, which was docked at the same place.
Both ferries, commissioned in 1975 (Pulau Undan) and 1981 (Pulau Kapas), were retired in 2020.
