Motor Landing Craft (MLC) Debrah K arrived in Nauru on 3rd March 2007 to carry out work on servicing and repositioning the mooring buoys as requested by the Nauru Port Authority (NPA). Span buoys or inner buoys as referred to by locals were a little too far off the reef fringes and reduced the manoeuvring space for panamax sized vessels.

Debrah K working off the reef in front of the NPA office

The existing span wires which held the mooring buys horizontally in position were extended, by inserting extra lengths of steel wire ropes. This allowed the NPA engineers to heave on the cable supporting the span buoys close, thus pulling the buoys closer to the reef. These inner buoys make it possible for vessels to be positioned under the cantilever loading envelope.

NPA workers onboard the Debrah K

Registered – Majuro, Marshall Islands.
GRT – 458.34
NRT – 203.53
LOA – 51m
Beam – 12.8m
Draft – 3.4m
Engine – V7 CW (Twin screw)
Crane tonnage – 35t
Crew – 13
Nationality – 12 Marshallese & 1 Philippino
Captain – Ieru Iru (Kiribati national)