July 27, 2021 KARACHI: The run aground cargo ship — Heng Tong 77 — cannot be salvaged before August 15 at Karachi’s Clifton beach, Adviser on Maritime Affairs Mehmood Moulvi revealed on Monday, drawing flak from shipping services, and shipping salvaging experts. Speaking during a press conference flanked by the Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi, the Adviser on Maritime Affairs, Mehmood Moulvi said that relevant authorities would have to decant 0.125 million litres of diesel from the ship first before starting a salvage operation. The experts however were of the view that the oil decantation exercise would only take 8-10 hours and there was no need to delay the salvage operation for 20 days. In addition, the ship owners said they contracted a salvaging company which had sent the crew who were waiting for KPT’s permission to start an operation.