It worked yesterday evening to get four employees of the recovery company on board the Eemslift Hendrika. That was quite a challenge, says Berdowski. Although, according to him, ‘his’ people are used to something. “You noticed that the Norwegian authorities were a lot more hesitant than we were. That led to a long discussion yesterday, to convince the Norwegians that our people could really get on board.”
Unlike the Boskalis models, the local authorities also believed that the ship would not drift directly towards the coast. “We saw that the ship would hit the cliffs around midnight. When the ship came seven miles from the coast, the Norwegians themselves saw that it was getting really difficult.”
The talks took so long that the operation could not begin until it was almost dark. “That was difficult, we would have preferred to do it in daylight,” says Berdowski. “You have to imagine: those people then have to cross such a slippery deck in the dark that makes slopes of 40 degrees. From the tug they have to pick up the wire and see to line the cargo ship. a challenging operation. “
Lost cargo
The Eemslift Hendrika is owned by Amasus Shipping in Delfzijl. The cargo ship transports ships from the Mediterranean to Northern Europe. When the Eemslift Hendrika ended up in bad weather, the load still consisted of seven sailing yachts and fishing vessels. One of the fishing vessels has slipped off board.
“It will still be floating around somewhere, or may have already disappeared,” Berdowski thinks. “Ships like the Eemslift have a satellite tracking system, which you can follow neatly. But a boat that is on it doesn’t have that. So, especially in that weather, it is very difficult to find out what the situation is. “
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