Preparations to move the cargo ship still on fire off the coast of the Netherlands with thousands of cars on board to a new temporary position are underway, Dutch authorities announced on Friday evening, who have been trying for three days to prevent an ecological disaster. .
The Fremantle Highway, which carried nearly 500 electric vehicles, is “currently stable”, the Dutch National Institute for Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) said in a statement around 11:30 p.m. (2130 GMT).
“The vessel is also still intact below the waterline and not tilting,” he continued.
“The temperature on board the ship has dropped sharply and the intensity as well as the development of smoke have decreased,” he added.
Salvage companies and authorities “have now started preparations to tow the cargo ship to an area further east than its current position”, according to the Rijkswatersaat.
This new temporary location is located “16 km north of the island of Schiermonnikoog”, a few tens of kilometers from where it is currently located. This new position corresponds better “to the different scenarios and the expected weather conditions”, according to the authorities.
The towing of the vessel is expected to take “between 12 and 14 hours” and will likely begin this weekend. The timing and duration of the trip will depend, among other things, “on the release of smoke and the weather forecast”.
“During the tow, the stability of the ship will be continuously monitored,” according to the Rijkswaterstaat.
“No direct consequences for the Wadden Islands, its inhabitants and nature are expected,” the agency said of the operation.
The situation will be reviewed once the vessel has arrived at the new temporary anchorage. The authorities then hope to be able to move the Fremantle Highway to a port to be determined.
As the fire waned, four rescuers climbed onto the freighter for the first time on Friday, thanks to the drop in temperature, to establish a more robust connection with the tug, making it easier to move the ship and keep it under control.
“All scenarios are still possible,” said Lea Versteeg, spokesperson for the coast guard, to AFP at the start of the evening.
Operations to put out the fire had been suspended on Thursday to prevent the ship from being destabilized due to the amount of water entering.
The Fremantle Highway, flying the Panamanian flag, drifted west. But the relief took advantage Thursday afternoon of a change in the direction of the current to modify its trajectory and prevent it from approaching the navigation channels, according to the coast guard.
It is currently 23 kilometers north of the coast of the island of Terschelling, “between the shipping routes”, according to the coast guard.
The transport company K Line, which chartered the ship, told AFP on Friday that 3,783 new cars, including 498 electric vehicles, were on board.
The cause of the fire, first reported Tuesday shortly before midnight (2200 GMT), has not yet been made public. But according to the Japanese owner of the Fremantle Highway, the Shoei Kisen Kaisha group, quoted by Dutch public broadcaster NOS, one of the electric cars on board could be the source of the fire.
Private television RTL Nederland published on Thursday a recording of a radio transmission conversation of the rescue teams, dating from the start of the rescue operations on Wednesday, in which one of their members indicates that the fire broke out “in the battery of an electric car”.
The islands of Terschelling, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog near the Fremantle Highway are part of a group of eight Dutch islands (five of which are inhabited) straddling the Wadden Sea and the North Sea, in the north of the Netherlands .
The Wadden Sea, which runs along a coastal region stretching from the Netherlands to Denmark, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and boasts a rich diversity of over 10,000 aquatic and terrestrial species.
Of the 23 crew members who were on board and were able to be evacuated, one sailor died – on a lifeboat, according to NOS – and several others were injured. The crew is from India, according to Dutch news agency ANP.
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29/07/2023 01:31:43 – West-Terschelling (Pays-Bas) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
