“Eemslift Hendrika” will be towed Wednesday morning – VG

The cargo ship, which has been operating in the Norwegian Sea since Monday night, is scheduled to be towed to port on Wednesday morning. Hans-Petter Mortensholm, director of emergency preparedness at the Norwegian Coastal Administration, tells VG.

– We have had a meeting with the salvage company and the operating company of the vessel this afternoon, and they will go out to the casualty tomorrow early to try to put personnel on board so that we can receive an emergency tow, Mortensholm explains.

The weather situation on Tuesday night is likely to be too demanding for the action, but according to Mortensholm, the weather will calm down and allow a tow on Wednesday morning.

– The Coast Guard ship “Sortland” will remain out by the casualty until further notice. They will always be here, monitoring and being our eyes there, says Mortensholm about the ongoing monitoring of “Eemslift Hendrika” until the morning twig.

One day before land

According to Mortensholm, crews from the Dutch salvage company Smit Salvage will be flown out to “Eemslift Hendrika” to make it ready for towing. Then two tugs that have been hired will bring the ship to port.

According to the plan, the two tugs, which are engaged from Bergen and Kristiansund, will reach the Dutch cargo ship at 3-4 o’clock tonight. The Norwegian Coastal Administration writes this on its own websites.

The Coast Guard ship “Sortland” will assist with an emergency solution if it turns out to be difficult to tow the ship.

“Sortland” is also capable of emergency towing if the shipowner’s and the salvage company’s plan is not implemented, Mortensholm assures.

According to the Norwegian Coastal Administration’s latest update, it will take about a day with the ship’s current course and speed before it reaches land.

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Uncertain fate

Tuesday morning one fell brand new service boat worth NOK 66 million from «Eemslift Hendrika» and ended up in the sea where it operates freely. The boat was ordered by the Norwegian company AQS AS. The fate of the boat is still uncertain.

According to Mortensholm at the Norwegian Coastal Administration, the service ship is still afloat and is one and a half nautical miles away from the “Eemslift Hendrika”, with a speed of approximately 0.1 knots faster than the Dutch cargo ship. The Norwegian Coastal Administration does not prioritize the service boat in the rescue:

– We have no special focus on the AQS boat. We are most concerned with the platform that poses the greatest environmental risk, says Mortensholm and points out that a possible rescue of the AQS boat will be up to the Dutch shipping company and the salvage company.

Here we see how the cargo ship “Eemslift Hendrika” has moved in the last 24 hours around 70 nautical miles northwest of Ålesund:

AQS’s technical manager, Kristian Hjertvik, states that the service boat has not been put into operation, which means that the boat did not show up with a so-called AIS signal on monitoring services.

Hjertvik tells VG that the company has not been informed of a possible solution for the million boat which according to the plan was to be used for, among other things. towing assignments and mooring work.

– It is still an ongoing rescue operation, so we just have to relate to the “chain of command”, Hjertvik says to VG and adds:

– We can only hope it resolves.

VG has been in contact with the Dutch salvage company “Smit Salvage” on Tuesday night, they do not want to comment on the case. VG has not succeeded in reaching the Dutch shipping company «Amasus shipping». VG has also tried to contact the importer of the AQS ship, Moen Marine, but has not received a response to the inquiries.

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