The UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said that two vesselsinvolved in an explosive ship strike off the UK’s east coastare stable and that salvors are now able to undertake assessments on board
The UK’s HM Coastguard said that salvors have been on board both the container feeder vessel Solong and Stena Bulk’s MR tanker Stena Immaculate today to continue the work of carrying out comprehensive damage assessments.
Stena Bulk confirmed that salvors had boarded its US-flagged vessel, and Stena had earlier confirmed “at least one” of the 18 cargo tanks holding Stena Immaculate’s 220,000 barrels of jet A1 fuel destined for the US military suffered damage from a ship strike.
“We can confirm that specialist third-party salvage experts from SMIT Salvage have now successfully boarded the Stena Immaculate to conduct a thorough assessment. The vessel remains in a stable condition whilst these teams carry out their detailed inspection work under carefully controlled safety protocols,” the shipowner said.
Citing “methodical, comprehensive and ongoing” salvage processes, Stena cautioned that the assessment and planning will require some time to completecomprehensive structural and systems assessments, and continuing actions to mitigate any potential environmental impacts.
“Working in close conjunction with the appropriate UK maritime authorities, a detailed salvage and towing plan will be developed and finalised once these assessments are complete,” the line said.
On 13 March, Stena Bulk said fires had “completely ceased” on board itsStena Immaculate tanker and fly-overs and other assessments of the vessel’s external structure and the surrounding seawater have indicated no visible signs the vessel’s jet fuel cargo is continuing to spill.
On 10 March, under foggy conditions, Stena Immaculate was speared by Portugal-flagged container feeder vessel Solong while at anchor in the North Sea off the coast of the UK region of Yorkshire and The Humber.
