Seoul shortlists Shanghai Salvage-led consortium to salvage sunken ferry

South Korea on Wednesday selected a Chinese-led consortium as a preferred bidder to salvage the sunken Sewol ferry that more than 300 people killed in April last year. The salvage project is expected to be completed in July next year at the earliest, as Seoul plans to adopt the consortium`s proposal to use salvage beams instead of drilling holes in the hull.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Public Procurement Service announced Wednesday that they have selected the Shanghai Salvage consortium as the preferred bidder for the salvage project for the ill-fated ferry. The ministry said that the consortium proposed the highest bidding price of 85.1 billion won (74.4 million U.S. dollars) for the project among a total of seven bidders. Shanghai Salvage Co., owned by China`s Ministry of Transport, has a 70-percent stake in the consortium, while South Korean marine installation company Ocean C&I holds the other 30 percent as its partner. The second and third preferred bidders are China Yentai Salvage and U.S.-based Titan Maritime Salvage that proposed 99 billion won (86.5 million dollars) and 99.9 billion won (87.3 million dollars), respectively. China Yentai Salvage is also owned by the Chinese Ministry of Transport. South Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said, "A Dutch bidder was disqualified because of its insufficient bidding deposit, while the other three companies were eliminated due to their low technical scores."

If the Shanghai Salvage consortium is selected as the final winning bidder, Seoul plans to adopt its proposal to install beam under the hull and pull it up. Initially, the South Korean government considered using cranes to raise the ship after drilling holes into the hull and linking steel ropes and chains.

According to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Shanghai Salvage has pulled up 2,700 vessels and is headed by a director-general-level official at the Shanghai Salvage Bureau under the Chinese Ministry of Transport.