Loading
TAMPA — Odyssey Marine Exploration has secured salvage contracts from the owners of four deep-ocean shipwrecks with cargo estimated to be worth more than $230 million.
According to a release from the company, the ships were carrying “valuable commodities” when they sank, which Odyssey will attempt to recover. The contracts allow Odyssey to keep 90% of the net recovered cargo value from the shipwrecks, the release says. The names and locations of the shipwrecks were not disclosed.
Odyssey says there are additional shipwrecks that don't require salvage agreements that can be added to the multiyear commodity shipwreck program while its equipment is nearby. The publicly traded company (symbol: OMEX, recent price: $3.83) plans to begin work on the project as soon as the second quarter of 2013.
"The work that we've been doing this summer on the Gairsoppa and Mantola projects confirms that our team can successfully conduct recovery operations on modern metal shipwrecks in the deep ocean," Mark Gordon, Odyssey president and COO, says in the release. "This program is another opportunity to diversify our project and capabilities portfolio, which also includes archaeological excavation, conservation and documentation of historic shipwrecks as well as mineral exploration in the deep ocean."
In July, Tampa-based Odyssey announced it had recovered an estimated $37.8 million worth of silver from the SS Gairsoppa in the northern Atlantic.
Your free article limit has been reached this month.
Subscribe now for unlimited digital access to our award-winning business news.
Join thousands of executives who rely on us for insights spanning Tampa Bay to Naples.
