ECOCIDE
Grimaldi Con/Ro Runs Aground on Coral Reef Off Yucatan
The Grimaldi Lines con/ro Grande Senegal has gone aground on a reef off the Yucatan Peninsula, according to local media and AIS data.
On the evening of July 20, Grande Senegal got under way from the port of Altamira, north of Tampico. She was headed for Brunswick, Georgia, according to operator Grimaldi - but instead of setting a northeasterly course on the shortest route, she headed south instead and hugged the coastline of the Bay of Campeche.
In the early hours of July 22, as she rounded the northern end of the Yucatan Peninsula, she went from a speed of 18 knots to a full halt at Arrecife Madagascar, a reef about 20 nm off the small port of Sisal. She has not moved since, according to data provided by Pole Star.
Photos of the site published by local outlet Yucatan Ahora show the top of the vessel's propeller above the water. In other images, the majority of the bulbous bow is clearly visible.
The water depth at the site of the grounding is in the range of 15-20 feet, according to local outlet Milenio. The ship's current reported draft via AIS is 27 feet.
The reef is known to fishermen and divers as a breeding ground for fish and a destination for tourists. The extent of any damage along the ship's entry track into the reef is not yet fully known, and local stakeholders are concerned that the process of refloating the ship may cause additional damage.
Miguel Ek Pech, port commissioner for the community of Sisal, told Milenio that his office will file a complaint with the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) for the ecological damage. "When they are going to remove the ship that is stranded practically on all coral, there is going to be a massive destruction," warned Ek Pech.
Dive assessments are reportedly under way for the preparation of a salvage plan, and the anchor handler Atlantic Osprey is attending the ship. No oil pollution or injuries have been reported, according to Grimaldi, and the responders are currently working on a salvage plan.
Arrecife Madagascar is part of the Campeche Bank Reef complex. In addition to corals and marine life, it is home to much older shipwrecks from the 1700s-1800s, a period when Sisal was a busy seaport. In that era, the reef was considered enough of a hazard to navigation that a lighthouse was installed to warn shipping (it has long since subsided under the sea).
Reflecting its long-known status, Arrecife Madagascar is charted, and it is described in detail in the NGA sailing directions. According to NGA, Arrecife Madagascar is the same color as the surrounding water, and seas do not break on it, rendering missing two of the typical warning signs of a shoal ahead.
NGA cautions mariners transiting this region that Campeche Bank Reef is poorly surveyed overall, and that "it is reasonable to assume that many more dangers exist than are shown on the charts."
The 2010-built Grande Senegal is the second Grimaldi Lines con/ro involved in a major marine casualty in less than a month. On July 5, a fire broke out aboard Grande Costa d’Avorio at the port of Newark, New Jersey. Two firefighters were killed in the early phase of the response, and the blaze burned for five days.
Three Grimaldi vessels caught fire in 2019, including the con/ro Grande America, which ultimately went down off the coast of France.
Taiwan Detains Officers of Sunken Containership as Cleanup Proceeds
Taiwan has orders that three of the officers from the containership Angel that went down last week off the port of Kaohsiung should be barred from leaving the country while the investigation and environmental cleanup is underway. Officials are citing the cost of retrieving the hundreds of containers scattered in the ocean as well as the oil leaking from the vessel.
The Angel, a 21-year-old containership registered in Palau, had been anchored off the port for most of July with media reports saying the vessel had not indicated any troubles but had inquired about docking the day before the incident was reported. The 20,000 dwt vessel, which was 564 feet in length, was loaded with what has now been determined to be 1,349 empty containers.
The master of the vessel told the port authority on July 20 that the vessel was taking on water and that the 19 crewmembers were abandoning ship. The vessel’s list continued to grow and despite efforts to stabilize the ship, it heeled over overnight and sank approximately 2.8 nautical miles outside Kaohsiung harbor. In addition to the containers, the port authority reports there were nearly 500 tons of low-sulfur fuel and light diesel aboard.
Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling reported that an order has now been issued by the Immigration Department to retain on Taiwan the master of the Angel, along with the first mate and chief engineer. Their departure is being restricted under the island’s Marine Pollution Law.
The minister pointed out that the law requires ships to avoid and prevent damage to the marine environment and the ship’s owners to pay for removal, remediation, and damage. She reports that Taiwan is incurring large expenses for the retrieval of the containers left floating along the coastline and that the oil leaking from the Angel is unstoppable. The available equipment can only remove 120 cubic meters per hour and further with Typhoon Doksuri impacting the area, they fear the oil spill will be washed across a broader area. In addition, fisherman the minister said will also need to be compensated for the damage caused to the industry.
The Kaohsiung Port Authority estimates that 766 of the containers sunk with the ship and a further 160 sunk during the drifting process. A further 233 have been towed away in the salvage operation that is retrieving boxes in and around the harbor’s entrance channels. An additional 60 containers have been identified washed up on the shoreline in the area between Nansing and Fengpitou.
A further 130 containers are believed to be missing and likely floating in the ocean creating navigational hazards. Minister of Transport Wang Guocai expressed concern that some of the boxes currently trapped on the concrete constructions along the shore could also be washed out to sea as Typhoon Doksuri churns up the coastal waters. The container retrieval operation has been suspended due to the typhoon.
Taiwan has been calling for the owner of the ship to take prompt action. The Equasis database lists the owner as Navramar Shipping and a management company based in Azerbaijan. The vessel’s class society and insurance status are unclear with the Equasis database not listing a Port State inspection since 2018.
Fremantle Highway Fire Lessens as Vessel Continues to Drift off Dutch Coast
Dutch authorities report that the situation is stable as the car carrier Fremantle Highway continues to burn. As of late on Thursday, they are reporting that it appears that the fire might be lessening in intensity but they can only wait until the fire dies down and it becomes safe to board the ship to start a salvage operation. The fire, which began around midnight on July 25, is expected to burn for days.
The vessel continues to drift along the Dutch coast with a line attached in an effort to keep it from interfering with the busy sea lanes in the North Sea. The ship drifted westward during the day but back toward the east later with the Dutch Coast Guard saying they were monitoring the current and wind direction to determine the most favorable drift direction. Later in the day, a stronger tow line was strung from the tugboat Fairplay 30 to the Fremantle Highway.
While the fire is still raging on the vessel, the Coast Guard also reports that the decision was made to suspend cooling efforts are the intensity of the fire diminished. The vessel is already showing a list and concerns are growing over the stability of the vessel.
“We are working with all our might to prevent the ship from sinking,” Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch water authority, said in its update. “We also are doing our utmost to limit the damage to people and the environment, as much as possible.”
The water authority’s oil recovery vessel Arca continues to stand by near the wreck in case of a fuel release. Dutch and German coastal authorities are also preparing for different scenarios including a release of contamination or the possibility that the vessel will sink. Environmental groups are highlighting the dangers to sensitive areas as well as popular tourist destinations along the North Sea coast. The current position is approximately 10 miles north of Terschelling in The Netherlands.
A salvage team continues to stand by the vessel and is analyzing the exterior and pictures as they work to formulate potential plans. The images released by the Dutch Coast Guard show blistering and peeling paint at multiple places along the sides of the vessel with smoking continuing to pour out of the vessel. They however are no longer show flames and the Coast Guard points out that no cracks or holes have been observed so far in the vessel.
Analysts are already beginning to calculate the potential financial impact. The Mercedes-Benz Group confirmed that it has approximately 350 vehicles aboard the ship. London-based data and analytics company Russell Group estimated that the car company could incur an economic loss of at least $13 million from the fire.
“If the cause of the fire turns out to have been started by an electric vehicle, this will be a similar scenario to the Felicity Ace incident. The incident again raises questions surrounding the perils of shipping electric vehicles (EVs), and the flammable nature of EVs that contain lithium-ion batteries,” said Suki Basi, Managing Director of the Russell Group.
The Dutch Coast Guard however is continuing to caution about speculation and various local media reports. The number of vehicles aboard the vessel has come into question with the original manifest showing 2,857 but some media reports are citing numbers as much as 1,000 vehicles higher. The Dutch Coast Guard also asked that while well-intentioned that people stop calling their emergency line with questions and suggestions, saying that it was hampering its operations.
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