Latest news with #A1-jet
The Independent
19-03-2025
- General
- The Independent
Owners of tanker involved in North Sea collision praise crew for their 'bravery'
The co-owners of a tanker involved in a collision with a cargo ship in the North Sea have praised the crew for their 'exceptional bravery and quick action'. Stena Immaculate tanker and cargo ship Solong collided off the cost of East Yorkshire on March 10. The explosive collision left a sailor presumed dead in the North Sea, with the alarm first raised on the Humber Estuary. HM Coastguard said 36 people were rescued from both vessels involved in the collision and taken safely to shore in Grimsby. The Marine Accidental Investigation Branch is trying to establish the cause of the collision. Crowley, the maritime operations company based in Florida, who manage the oil tanker, posted a photo on social media site Instagram showing 19 crew members. 'Our deepest gratitude and respect goes out to our 23 mariners from the Stena Immaculate for their exceptional bravery and quick action during the recent allision to their ship in the North Sea,' the company said in a statement. 'Their decisive efforts and teamwork to execute critical fire and emergency duties helped to save lives, protect the integrity of the vessel and minimize the impact on the environment. 'Against disastrous circumstances, the crew had the operational focus to ensure fire monitors were active in order to provide boundary cooling water, which resulted in limited impact to just one of the 16 cargo holds. Their dedication to safety — not only for themselves but for others — sets a powerful example for the entire industry.' Crowley said at least one cargo tank carrying A1-jet fuel was ruptured in the collision. However, it is said the spill has had a 'limited' impact, with the maritime company saying it remained unclear how much Jet A1 fuel was released when it was hit by the Solong, but an initial review showed it had evaporated due to exposure to fires on both vessels. Owners of the Solong have also admitted tiny plastic pellets, held in containers on board, were released and have since been found on beaches in Norfolk and Lincolnshire. A clean-up operation is now underway as the plastic pellets pose a danger to wildlife. It has also been revealed that the container ship failed steering-related safety checks last July, and 10 other deficiencies were also highlighted during an inspection. The captain of the Solong, 59-year-old Russian man Vladimir Motin, appeared at Hull Magistrates' Court on Saturday charged with gross negligence manslaughter. No plea was entered. He was remanded in custody to appear before the Central Criminal Court in London on April 14.
Al Etihad
13-03-2025
- General
- Al Etihad
Ships blaze, spill feared after North Sea crash
11 Mar 2025 15:48 Grimsby (AFP) Fires were raging on Tuesday after a cargo ship laden with toxic materials slammed into a tanker carrying flammable jet fuel in the North Sea, as questions mounted about how the accident were also growing fears that any spill from the collision could harm the local environment and coastline, home to seals, porpoises and some protected waders and on the BBC Tuesday showed a large hole in the side of the Stena Immaculate tanker as huge plumes of thick, black smoke rose from the stationary ships with smaller boats dousing the vessels with fires were "still going on" nearly 24 hours after the Portuguese-flagged Solong cargo ship ploughed into the Stena Immaculate tanker, anchored about 16 kilometres off the northeastern port of Hull, nearby Grimsby port chief executive Martyn Boyers told crew member was also still missing, he Stena Immaculate was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to a spokesperson for the command that operates civilian-crewed ships for the US Defense the US-based operator of the tanker, said the crash had "ruptured" the ship's tank "containing A1-jet fuel" and triggered a fire, with fuel "reported released".The UK government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch has launched a probe into Monday's accident to determine the next UK Coastguard halted search operations late on Monday after rescuing 36 crew members from both ships. It was not immediately clear if the search had resumed early on Tuesday."One crew member of the Solong remains unaccounted for. After an extensive search for the missing crew member sadly they have not been found and the search has ended," said Matthew Atkinson, divisional commander for the Stena Immaculate was carrying around 220,000 barrels of jet fuel, according to the maritime information service, Lloyd's List Solong was laden with 15 containers of sodium cyanide, it added, but authorities have not confirmed that and it is not known if any of the flammable compound had leaked.A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was hosting his weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, called the situation "extremely concerning".Quoting government sources, the Daily Telegraph said there was nothing so far to indicated that "foul play" had caused the crash, but it could not be ruled out. 'Toxic hazards' A spokesman for the government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch said a team sent to Grimsby was "gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment".Dutch maritime servicing company Boskalis told the ANP news agency it had been tasked with salvaging the Stena Immaculate and was "fully mobilising".Four ships with firefighting capacity were on their way to the site, a Boskalis spokesperson said, adding the tanker would need to be "cooled down" before the fire could be investigation was being led by US and Portuguese authorities, as the ships were flagged from their countries, housing minister Matthew Pennycook told Times Radio."We're obviously very alive to the potential impact on the environment," he said, but added the Coastguard was well equipped to deal with any oil spills."The good news is... it's not like a crude oil spill," Ivor Vince, founder of ASK Consultants, an environmental risk advisory group, told AFP."Most of it will evaporate quite quickly and what doesn't evaporate will be degraded by microorganisms quite quickly," he added. Humber traffic suspended All vessel movements were "suspended" in the Humber estuary that flows into the North Sea, according to Associated British Ports (ABP), which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region. The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said it was also dispatching a vessel capable of fire fighting and oil recovery.
Al Etihad
12-03-2025
- General
- Al Etihad
Huge fire after tanker collides with cargo ship in North Sea, 32 injured
10 Mar 2025 17:26 London (AFP)A cargo ship struck a tanker carrying jet fuel on Monday in the North Sea, sparking a massive fire off England and leaving 32 people injured, the tanker's operator and authorities said.A major rescue operation was being coordinated by the UK Coastguard as images showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene about 16 kilometres off the Stena Immaculate was "anchored off the North Sea coast near Hull ... (and) was struck by the container ship Solong," the Stena's US-based operators Crowley said in a impact of the collision "ruptured" the cargo tank "containing A1-jet fuel" triggering a fire, with fuel "reported released".The 32 injured had been brought ashore for treatment in three vessels, the Grimsby port director Martyn Boyers told AFP, adding "ambulances were queueing on the quay" in the northeastern English fishing of the crew on board the tanker owned by Swedish shipowner Stena Bulk were confirmed to be alive, Lena Alvling, a spokesperson for the firm told were reports of "fires on both ships" that UK lifeboat services were responding to, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) confirmed to AFP.A spokesman said the Coastguard was carrying out an assessment of the likely counter pollution response required, while a government body probing marine accidents deployed a team to Grimsby."Our team of inspectors and support staff are gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment of the accident to determine our next steps," a Marine Accident Investigation Branch spokesperson to environmental campaign group Greenpeace, it was "too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage"."In the case of an oil spill or any loss of hazardous cargo from the container ship involved, the speed of the response will also be crucial in limiting any impact," a Greenpeace spokesperson said. Humber traffic suspended All vessel movements were "suspended" in the Humber estuary which flows into the North Sea, according to the Associated British Ports (ABP).The ABP, which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region, added it was "assisting" the Coastguard. The International Maritime Organization told AFP "the current focus is on the firefighting and search and rescue operation".UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was "concerned to hear" about the collision and thanked all the emergency services which rushed to the alarm about the crash near the port city of Hull in East Yorkshire was raised at 0948 GMT.A Coastguard helicopter, a plane, lifeboats from four towns and other nearby vessels were part of the large rescue operation, the Coastguard cargo ship was the Portuguese-flagged "Solong", owned by the German company Reederei 140-metre-long (460 foot) cargo vessel, left Grangemouth in Scotland and was bound for Rotterdam, according to website Vessel Finder. Collisions rare Vessels with firefighting capabilities have been dispatched to the scene off the northeast remain rare in the busy North October 2023, two cargo ships, the Verity and the Polesie, collided near Germany's Heligoland islands in the North Sea. Three people were killed and two others are still missing, considered dead.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Ships still on fire after North Sea crash
Fires were still raging on Tuesday after a cargo ship laden with toxic materials slammed into a tanker carrying flammable jet fuel in the North Sea, as questions mounted about how the accident happened. The fires were "still going on", nearly 24 hours after the Solong cargo ship ran into the Stena Immaculate tanker, anchored about 10 miles (16 kilometres) off the northeast port of Hull. One crew member was also still missing, Grimsby port chief executive Martyn Boyers told AFP. The government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch has launched a probe into Monday's accident to determine the next steps and need for a counter-pollution response. The UK Coastguard halted search operations late on Monday after rescuing 36 crew members from both ships. It was not immediately clear if the search had resumed early on Tuesday. "One crew member of the Solong remains unaccounted for. After an extensive search for the missing crew member sadly they have not been found and the search has ended," said Matthew Atkinson, Divisional Commander for the HM Coastguard. Images on Monday showed a huge plume of thick, black smoke and flames rising from the scene off the coast of East Yorkshire, sparking concerns of "multiple toxic hazards". The Stena Immaculate was on a short-term US military charter with Military Sealift Command, according to Jillian Morris, the spokesperson for the command that operates civilian-crewed ships providing ocean transport for the US Defense Department. Crowley, the US-based operators of the tanker, said the impact of the crash "ruptured" the ship's tank "containing A1-jet fuel" and triggered a fire, with fuel "reported released". The Stena Immaculate was carrying around 220,000 barrels of jet fuel. The Solong was carrying 15 containers of sodium cyanide, according to the Lloyd's List information service, but it is not known if any of the flammable compound had leaked. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the situation "extremely concerning". All crew members aboard the Stena Immaculate were confirmed to be alive, a spokeswoman for the tanker's Swedish owner, Stena Bulk, told AFP. - 'Toxic hazards' - A spokesman for the government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch said: "Our team of inspectors and support staff are gathering evidence and undertaking a preliminary assessment of the accident to determine our next steps." Dutch maritime servicing company Boskalis told the ANP news agency it had been tasked with salvaging the Stena Immaculate and was "fully mobilising". Four ships with firefighting capacity were on their way to the site, a Boskalis spokesperson said, adding that the tanker would need to be "cooled down" before the fire could be extinguished. Ivor Vince, founder of ASK Consultants, an environmental risk advisory group, told AFP: "The good news is it's not persistent. It's not like a crude oil spill". "Most of it will evaporate quite quickly and what doesn't evaporate will be degraded by microorganisms quite quickly," he added. He warned though, that "it will kill fish and other creatures". There were growing concerns about the consequences of any spillage into the North Sea for the local environment and protected wildlife. Paul Johnston, a senior scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories at Exeter University, said: "We are extremely concerned about the multiple toxic hazards these chemicals could pose to marine life." The jet fuel entered the water close to a breeding ground for harbour porpoises. Sodium cyanide is "a highly toxic chemical that could cause serious harm", he explained. - Humber traffic suspended - All vessel movements were "suspended" in the Humber estuary that flows into the North Sea, according to Associated British Ports (ABP), which operates in the Ports of Hull and Immingham in the region. The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said it was also dispatching a vessel capable of fire fighting and oil recovery. Grimsby native Paul Lancaster, a former seaman, told AFP: "I don't understand how two ships that big could collide". "There must have been a massive engineering problem," he said. bur-jkb/aks/gil
