A damaged ship rejected by European ports because of its potentially explosive cargo has been stuck in the North Sea for several weeks while authorities consider what to do with it.
The Maltese-flagged Ruby is the latest example of an unwanted ship left in limbo because no one dares handle it. Such ships, sometimes called “timebombs”, remain stranded for weeks, even months.
Ruby, a Handymax bulk carrier, has 20,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate on board. This is seven times more than the amount of ammonium nitrate – which is used in fertilizers as well as explosives – that exploded in Lebanon in 2020, devastating the port of Beirut.
On 22 August, after leaving the Russian port of Kandalaksha, the ship was caught in a storm in the Barents Sea and limped into the Norwegian port of Tromsø for damage inspection.
It was later ordered to be abandoned and proceeded with the assistance of tugs to another port for repairs.
This was rejected by Lithuania, which insisted that the ship must first offload its volatile cargo, and continued southward.
Since September 25, it has been anchored in southeastern England near the Dover Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
combustion agent
The British Coast Guard said Ruby is seaworthy, stressing: “The ship has appropriate safety certificates approved by the ship’s flag state and is capable of making her own way.”
But it has been stuck in the swamp since September and its mainly Syrian crew is still on board.
Ruby’s Dubai-based managers said they expected to offload the cargo in a UK port so the ship could be put into dry dock for repairs.
“Finding an adequate solution has been logistically challenging, which partly explains the delay,” the management company told AFP.
There are very few ports willing to accept potentially dangerous loads.
“People associate it (Ruby) with Beirut but I think it’s entirely possible to manage this situation,” said Eric Slominski, an expert on the shipping of dangerous goods.
He reported that the ruby cargo was sent to make fertilizer, while the ammonium nitrate in Beirut was specifically sent to make explosives.
“It’s not a product you can mess with but it’s not explosive,” Nicolas Tannic of French marine pollution organization Cedre said of Ruby’s cargo.
“It’s a combustion agent to ignite the fire,” said Tanic, whose organization has analyzed the ship’s load.
Erica disaster
He said the Russian origin of the chemical compound and the horrific memories of the Beirut port disaster have created concern and a media frenzy.
But the French shipowners’ body said ports may have other reasons for rejecting the Ruby.
“If a ship docks in your channel, it closes your port. If it docks at one of your docks, the dock becomes unusable for a few months,” said managing director Laurent Martens. “It is a great risk to accept a ship in distress.” ,
Furthermore, unloading cargo such as rubies is a lengthy operation that costs “hundreds of thousands of euros”, Martens explained.
In the wake of the Erica disaster in 1999 – when an oil tanker of that name wrecked off the west coast of France – the European Union tightened its laws on maritime safety.
Erica spilled approximately 20,000 tons of heavy fuel oil into the ocean, polluting 400 kilometers (250 mi) of coastline and killing 150,000 to 300,000 seabirds.
EU states are now required to provide shelter for ships in distress to avoid environmental pollution.
But the rules are subject to interpretation.
In 2012, France denied access to the MSC Flaminia for a month after the ship ran aground off the coast of Brittany, without crew, after a fire broke out carrying 151 containers of labeled “dangerous” goods. They went.
The damaged ship was eventually towed to the port of Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
In 2015, the same North Sea port sheltered Purple Beach, which burst into flames along with 5,000 tons of fertilizer.
Nearly two years were spent in Germany by officials to inspect Purple Beach and send fertilizer.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
