Matanzas.- The arm of the crane makes a curious maneuver to lift by one of its ends the heavy steel structure, demolished and folded by the fire like a book, to put it in a position that allows cutting it into several fragments.
The shear jaw manages to do, with precision and in a few moments, what would take a lot of time and several men to do otherwise.
With the help of heavy equipment, it has been possible to demolish, little by little, for later removal, the redoubts of the damaged structure, especially the last fragments of the metal walls of the four damaged fuel tanks.
"We have already dismantled two tanks and we are working on the third one," explains Evilio Matos Sánchez, head of the Artemisa brigade of Raw Materials, a team made up of seven workers.
"It is a hard task; they are twisted metals, with a lot of slag and adhered soil," recognizes the experienced welder Samuel Acosta Martínez. Crane operator Yuniel Zamora confirms this. "I think the sun in this place burns more than anywhere else," he adds to emphasize the magnitude of the effort.
Some call these men the Magnificent Seven, says Matos Sánchez, who praised the treatment they received. "The housing conditions and attention, in a general sense, are good," he considered.
"It's no privilege, they deserve it. They start working very early in the morning and don't leave the job until after six in the evening. They are brave people," says the Brigade Chief.
CLEANING IS GOING AT A FAST PACE
The oil storage facility in Matanzas has changed its appearance. More than 50 days after the recovery began, this space in the city's industrial zone has changed its somber image. Very little is left to be dismantled in the location were the four burned tanks used to be.
For Osmany Castro Valera, specialist in charge of the technological lines affected by the bitter incident, whoever sees the place now realizes the progress of the works.
"This place shows a different image now. Works are going at an accelerated pace, and with our hard work, everything will be different after a few months," he explained.
It is a reconstruction of very wide spectrum and with a joint action, with many protagonists, he assures. Also the forces of the Ministry of Construction, Raw Material and the Cuban Oil Company, among others, stand out.
Every day, about 800 workers join the recovery works. It is a large team in support of the workers of the Empresa Comercializadora de Combustibles de Matanzas, insists Castro Valera.
In the last days, those who have the mission of building the supports cast in concrete, to secure the pipeline that transports the fuel to the dock and vice versa, have made an outstanding work. These pipelines were burned by the accident and are now being replaced in their entirety.
These men are true champions, Olympic-like champions, no one calculates what they are doing," says someone who praises the welders who connect the 20-inch pipes.
"We've been here since the beginning, it's not easy at all, with nowhere to shelter from the sun," says Alexis Pavón Verdecia, brigade leader.
"In a little more than a week we have made 40 welded joints of 20-inch pipes. In total, about 230 meters of piping of the line in charge of the transfer of diesel to pier number one".
He specified that they previously worked in the recovery of another line, of 130 meters, to favor the firefighting system. "To extinguish whatever comes," he emphasized.
In order to illustrate the whirlwind of work going on here, Investment specialist Luis Ángel Ramírez Batista explained that in this first stage of the recovery they have extracted more than 26,000 cubic meters of demolished material from some 20 buildings, including the tanks that caught fire, the laboratory and the water tank.
At the same time, the removal of scrap and steel filings exceeds 2,500 tons, he added.
CHANGE OF COLORS
Rígel Rodríguez, director of Empresa Comercializadora de Combustibles is deeply impressed by the transformation in the change of colors in a space that was blackened by the effects of the burned crude oil after the major fire.
In order to eradicate the damage to the soil, the use of bioremediation was effective, a technique by which the spilled crude oil is collected and then concentrated in a conceived space where the substances necessary for its degradation are applied.
There is hardly any sign of that scorched earth with burnt oil, which was visible in all the areas where the fuel spilled from the burnt tanks. There is a significant change, he says.
One point of reference is the work done on the first tank they worked on. The subsequent progress in the demolition and cleaning of the other tanks has had a lot to do with that experience, admits the manager.
He noted that the works have a constructive sequence, and praised, in particular, the work related to the construction of supports to facilitate the interconnection of the technological lines, with the purpose of offering vitality to the areas that have yet to receive the services.
On the accumulation of efforts being deployed here, he mentioned, in the first place, the work on the replacement of the damaged electricity lines. He said that they currently have electric service in all the facilities, something for which they are grateful to the workers of the sector.
"The amount of work carried out in such a short time to reestablish the substation located behind tank 49, which fed several mini-substations that provided service to the dock, the Company's central building, the residuals area and several workshops, was great."
He stated that communications and water supply were restored in the area, and Terminal 320, the well-known Liquefied Gas Base, is activated; and efforts are being made to create the conditions for unloading at the operating docks of the Industrial Zone.
Although it is still necessary to reestablish a considerable portion of the Supertanker Base and to undertake the reconstruction, Rígel imagines the future of this place with a more modern image than the previous one and, above all, a sustainable entity with greater security.
He advanced that the starting date for the construction of the first tank has yet to be set, but it could begin before the end of the year. "We have already made the progress we wish to attain, of how the new constructions should be based on the Cuban and international standards. We have most of the resources".
A preconceived idea includes greater separation between the fuel tanks and greater size and role of the tanks, as well as the paths that connect to the area where the tanks are located.
Although the weather conditions are sometimes too severe, work continues at the site on all fronts related to the recovery from the fire that broke out here on August 5.
Several mounds of rubble would pile up until a few days ago in a courtyard at the entrance to the industrial area, somehow announced that the appearance of Matanzas oil storage facility should be different from the one left by that tragic date. And it is.
