SULPICIO LINES INC., OWNER of the sunken MV Princess of the Stars, is expected to finalize next week its contract with US salvor Titan Salvage for the retrieval of the toxic pesticide cargo from the capsized vessel, according to Task Force Princess of the Stars head Elena Bautista.

Bautista said Sulpicio reported during meetings with the Department of Transportation and Communications that Titan Salvage wanted the contract covered by UK maritime arbitration laws as “security” that it would be paid for its services.

“SLI and Titan are finalizing the arbitration clause and required UK security. We will give London underwriters until Wednesday (Thursday, Manila time) to work out the security provision,” Bautista said in a text message over the weekend.

It has been more than a week since Sulpicio tapped Titan to retrieve hydrocarbons and toxic chemicals in the Princess of the Stars and to resurface the vessel within two months.

Bautista said it would take about 21 days from the contract-signing for Titan to mobilize its personnel and equipment to “ground zero” off Sibuyan Island.

Mobilization covers the deployment of personnel, equipment and vessels from abroad, she said.

Titan Salvage is the brand name of Titan Maritime LLC, a worldwide salvage company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.

Among its projects in the Philippines were the July 2004 recovery and refloating of the SuperFerry 14 in Manila Bay, the removal of the wreck and cargo of the barge, The Billy Star, in July 2006, as well as of the MV Boularibank which caught fire off Davao in August 2006.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Rafael Mariano, however, wants the government to compel Del Monte Philippines to recover its shipment of endosulfan from the sunken vessel.

Mariano made the demand after a team of toxicologists from the European Union warned Friday that pesticides inside the sunken ship could start leaking at anytime.

Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella, chair of the House transportation committee inquiring into the June 21 sinking of the ship off Sibuyan island, on Friday urged Del Monte to help the government retrieve the cargo.

But at last Thursday’s hearing, Del Monte executives balked at paying for the $315 million (P13.9 billion) cost of refloating the ship, saying this was the responsibility of Sulpicio Lines.

Mariano said it was “just and reasonable’’ for the government to compel Del Monte to remove the toxic cargo from the ship and bring it safely to shore to avert an environmental disaster.

But Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority deputy executive director Dario Sabularse allayed fears the hundreds of drums containing endosulfan would cause massive marine pollution.

Sabularse, a Chemistry professor at UP Los Baños, said endosulfan was a highly insoluble material and did not dissolve unless heated at a certain temperature.

“The solubility is very slight at the level of .32 mg/ liter at 22 degrees Centigrade. Meaning to say, this does not dissolve in water that easily,’’ he said in an interview Friday.

He said that if seawater seeped through the fiber-board drums and into the high-density polyethylene bags, in which the endosulfan was packed, it would only dissolve a small amount of the chemical.

“There would only be a very slight amount of endosulfan that would be dissolved in water,’’ he said.

He said it was possible a small amount of the pesticide could leak, but this would be diluted and degraded as it migrates through water.