Expeditionary cruise ship Richard With (IMO 9040429) ran aground north of Mongstad, Norway during the morning of August 5th while en route from Hareid to Bergen.
The Hurtigruten cruise-vessel was later refloated. It was not carrying any passengers at the time. None of the 67 people on board – 53 crew and 14 service personnel following a battery power refit – was harmed in the incident.
The Richard With had been returning to Bergen from a shipyard maintenance period when the grounding occurred at the northern end of Sognefjord. “The cause was a technical system error, which led to the ship temporarily losing control,” the company said in a written statement, adding that Hurtigruten Norge was “in the process of investigating the
background to the error.”
Following the grounding, the Richard With was joined by the Norwegian coastguard-contracted KV Bergen and the anchor handling tug (AHTS) Skandi Iceman belonging to DOF Group. However, the vessel refloated at the next high tide, without the assistance of tugs.
Hurtigruten said the bulb and only a small section at the front of the vessel were stuck on the rocks during the grounding. They reported that propulsion was operating correctly. No environmental pollution has been reported. After refloating the vessel set sail for the shipyard for repairs. The Norwegian authorities reported that they were using ROVs to survey the extent of the damage to the vessel and would determine what was required. Hurtigruten later said that, in addition to the damage to the bulb, the forward ballast
tank had been damaged and taken on seawater.
Hurtigruten said it expected to have the ship ready by its next schedule sailing date of August 20th.
The cruise ship normally operates on Hurtigruten’s coastal voyages from Bergen, Norway to the North Cape region. However since February it had been at the Myklebust Verft yard undergoing a conversion to hybrid-powered propulsion, including the addition of battery power and a connection to attach shore power in ports. It had departed the shipyard earlier in the week and was heading to Bergen to resume service on August 8th.
1993-built, Norway-flagged, 11,205 gt Richard With is owned by Xiang CR13 HK International care of manager Hurtigruten Coastal AS of Tromso, Norway. It is entered with Gard on behalf of Xiang CR13 HK International Ship Lease Co. As of August 6th the vessel was moored at Gurksen, Norway.
#repost @salvage_and_wreck#breakingnews The Hurtigruten ship RICHARD WITH ran aground in the Sognefjord on Friday 5 August 2022.
According to a statement from Hurtigruten there are only 53 crew on board, in addition to 14 service personnel who did follow-up work
