Groun­ded traw­ler North­gui­der: reco­very plan­ned in August

The shrimp traw­ler North­gui­der ran aground in Hin­lo­pens­trait clo­se to Spar­ren­e­set on Nord­aus­t­land, just south of Murch­ison­fjord. The who­le crew could be saved by heli­c­op­ter, as repor­ted ear­lier. The crew has later descri­bed the who­le expe­ri­ence, in total dark­ness, strong cold and stor­my wind, as very dra­ma­tic.

Fishing traw­ler North­gui­der groun­ded in Hin­lo­pens­tre­tet, clo­se to the coast of Nord­aus­t­land. Pho­to: Kyst­ver­ket.

300 tons of die­sel and other envi­ron­men­tal­ly dan­ge­rous sub­s­tances and goods could be sal­va­ged in Janu­ary, but the North­gui­der is still sit­ting on rocks. Experts from Sjøf­arts­di­rek­to­ra­tet, the Nor­we­gi­an ship­ping aut­ho­ri­ty, judge her posi­ti­on as sta­ble. The advan­ta­ge of that is that forces of natu­re such as wind, curr­ents and ice are unli­kely to push the ship into deeper waters. The dis­ad­van­ta­ge is that also human efforts to sal­va­ge the groun­ded ship will requi­re con­sidera­ble efforts and a major ope­ra­ti­on. It is esti­ma­ted that the sal­va­ging ope­ra­ti­on will take seve­ral weeks of work on the sce­ne.

The Sys­sel­man­nen, as the aut­ho­ri­ty who is gene­ral­ly respon­si­ble for the manage­ment of the area in ques­ti­on, and the Sjøf­arts­di­rek­to­rat and the Kyst­vakt (coast guard) have now deci­ded that the sal­va­ti­on work will be car­ri­ed out in August. At that time, the gene­ral con­di­ti­ons regar­ding wea­ther, ice and light should be most favoura­ble.

The coast guard ves­sel KV Sval­bard is curr­ent­ly on her way to the acci­dent site to assess the situa­ti­on the­re again, dou­ble-che­cking that the­re are no envi­ron­men­tal­ly harmful sub­s­tances and items are on board any­mo­re and that the posi­ti­on of the North­gui­der is sta­ble. Fur­ther moni­to­ring is plan­ned by moti­on detec­tors and bea­cons sen­dung the posi­ti­on of the ship in case of any unex­pec­ted move­ments.

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