Balisage

2:00 pm – press release n°5

From 14 December 2020 at 16:00, when she was off Western Sahara, until yesterday at 22:00, the atomic ship Sevmorput followed an atypical path suggesting difficulties and delays on board. Yesterday, from 20:28 to 20:41, a helicopter from the Salvamento Maritimo sea rescue agency hovered over the ship. The commander of the Sevmorput, who reportedly showed symptoms of meningitis, is said to have been evacuated to the hospital in Las Palmas. There were 98 crew members and technicians on board the ship until then. After this evacuation, the Sevmorput resumed a linear path towards the European continent. In addition to the technical problems, there are now also health problems.

Press release n°4
English version: December 15, 2020

The last of the nuclear-powered cargo ships, the Russian Sevmorput, is in breakdown (see previous press releases*). On her way to Antarctica to unload heavy loads for the extension of the Vostok research station, the Sevmorput was forced to turn back. Victim of propeller or propeller shaft damage, she returns to St. Petersburg at reduced speed after having been wandering round and round for several weeks off the coast of Angola and Congo Brazzaville. Angola and South Africa were reportedly opposed to the Sevmorput‘s entry into their ports to carry out repairs in a shipyard.

Press release n°4
English version: December 15, 2020

The last of the nuclear-powered cargo ships, the Russian Sevmorput, is in breakdown (see previous press releases*). On her way to Antarctica to unload heavy loads for the extension of the Vostok research station, the Sevmorput was forced to turn back. Victim of propeller or propeller shaft damage, she returns to St. Petersburg at reduced speed after having been wandering round and round for several weeks off the coast of Angola and Congo Brazzaville. Angola and South Africa were reportedly opposed to the Sevmorput‘s entry into their ports to carry out repairs in a shipyard.

Italy-Tunisia: household and sanitary waste

In April 2020, a container ship left Naples with 282 boxes bound for the Tunisian port of Sousse. The cargo was destined for Soriplast in the industrial zone of Sidi Abdelhamid. Soriplast claims to be specialised in recycling used plastics. The containers were filled with household and sanitary waste. On 13 November 2020, the director of Anged (National Waste Management Agency) was dismissed by the head of the Tunisian government, Hichem Mechichi. According to the chairman of the Commission for Administrative Reform and the Fight against Corruption, the director of Anged is only a scapegoat, “senior officials from the Ministry of Environment are involved in this crime”.

Only in French.

  11:40 am – Press release n°3

Robin des Bois wrote yesterday to Rosatom, owner of the Sevmorput. Thanks to Rosatom for his reply:

  11:40 am – Press release n°3

Robin des Bois wrote yesterday to Rosatom, owner of the Sevmorput. Thanks to Rosatom for his reply:

November 20, 2020 – Press release n°2

The arrival of the Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship was scheduled for early November at Progress station, in the north of the Antarctic continent.

For more than a month, the Sevmorput has been suffering a failure. She has been sailing at reduced speed to and from a small square in the South Atlantic Ocean off Angola and Congo Brazzaville.

According the social network Vkontakte spread by the Barents Observer, the breakdown of the only civilian nuclear-powered merchant ship still in operation does not affect the reactor compartment. The technical problems would come from the propeller shaft. Divers would be at work to carry out repairs, which could only be precarious.

November 20, 2020 – Press release n°2

The arrival of the Russian nuclear-powered cargo ship was scheduled for early November at Progress station, in the north of the Antarctic continent.

For more than a month, the Sevmorput has been suffering a failure. She has been sailing at reduced speed to and from a small square in the South Atlantic Ocean off Angola and Congo Brazzaville.

According the social network Vkontakte spread by the Barents Observer, the breakdown of the only civilian nuclear-powered merchant ship still in operation does not affect the reactor compartment. The technical problems would come from the propeller shaft. Divers would be at work to carry out repairs, which could only be precarious.

Issue # 61 of “Shipbreaking” (pdf – 12,8 Mo)
the unique panorama on the end of life of ships and the tricks of globalization.
71 pages, 240 photos, 95 sources