Alarm in Cherbourg n°2
Flying the flag of Saint-Vincent-et-Grenadines, the Serval, a tugboat built in 1977, is arriving at Cherbourg. In January 2015, the most recent inspection of the Serval in the port of Gdynia in Poland revealed eleven deficiencies. This precarious state has been noted for the past eight years. In 2007, the Serval had been detained in Denmark with 23 deficiencies.
The Serval is not coming to Cherbourg to be demolished. It’s in the port in Normandy to tow an old, abandoned tuna boat that has been stuck in the wharf since the summer of 2007. It will be towing into the risks and perils of the sea. The Marginella, built in 1985, measures 55 meters in length. Its operating crew comprises 25 sailors. It belongs to the Soviet tuna fishing fleet. It is the last survivor of eleven units of tuna seiners from the Tibiya project, built between 1980 and 1986 with the exception of Tibiya, which was converted into a service boat in the Caspian Sea.
Hassan 1 mystery : solved
Simon, from North Lincolnshire, UK, has identified the mystery-ship Hassan 1 beached for demolition in Pakistan (Cf Ship-breaking # 37, p 27): she is actually the ex-Chariot Bulker, a bulk carrier built in 1977 in Japan.
Hassan 1 is no longer a mystery. She is no stranger either. In 1999, her name was Maria K. On December 10th, 1999, she left the port of Saint-Nazaire (France) bound for England. She came back to Saint-Nazaire the day after due to bad weather conditions and was anchored there. She then dragged her anchor, was not loaded and represented a hazard and a pollution risk in case she hit the sea bottom. A pilot boat was supporting her, a harbor tug from the port of Saint-Nazaire, the Saint-Denis, was ready to take action.
