“Eemslift Hendrika” is now safely in port at in Ålesund, Western Norway. The operation action ended at 17:00 on Thursday, reports the Norwegian Coastal Administration.
The tow went towards Ålesund at a speed of around three knots. There were no particular challenges during the night, but the emergency level was maintained until the ship was safely docked.
Load shifted
The salvage crew was on board the vessel during the journey, and the tow was followed by the coast guard ship “Bergen”. There were 6 m/s winds and 3-5m waves during the tow towards Ålesund.
Thus, the dramatic incident ended safely.
It all started with an emergency announcement on Monday when the 111.6m cargo ship experienced that the cargo had shifted into rough seas and strong winds in the sea northwest of Ålesund.
Eight of the crew of 12 were evacuated, one of whom was injured. The four remaining efforts to correct the vessel. But eventually, the ship’s captain chose to evacuate the ship, for health and safety reasons. Thus it became without crew, towards the treacherous waters of the Stadt, known for rocks and shipwrecks.
Saved
Onboard the ship were four workboats, built by Moen Marin, with a total price tag of EUR 15 million. In addition, a cabin cruiser and a sailboat were stacked on the cargo deck.
On the night of Tuesday, the workboat “AQS Tor”, worth EUR 6.6 million, was thrown off by the cargo deck in the storm.
“AQS Tor” was first rescued, and towed to Florø. The preliminary damage report shows only minor damage to the boat.
- Read more: Preliminary damage report is in for “AQS Tor”: “It’s been ‘launched’ in a very special way”
4-5 hours before the cargo ship could reach the cliffs at Stadt, the salvage team chose Smit Salvage (incidentally the same company that recently solved the much-discussed “Suez crisis” and the Norwegian Coastal Administration to take action) and start the tow.
Now the “Eemslift Hendrika” is safely in port.
