Disaster averted – GLORY AMSTERDAM was driven onto sandbank

In one of the worst storms for a while in the German Bight the 225-metre bulk carrier GLORY AMSTERDAM was driven onto a sandbank some two kilometres off the East Frisian island of Langeoog on 29 October. The ship had been anchored off Helgoland but the winds and waves of “Storm Herwart” proved too strong for the ship’s moorings.

GLORY AMSTERDAM: https://www.fleetmon.com/vessels/glory-amsterdam_9287182_37635/

Though not carrying any cargo, the 11-year-old bulk carrier did have some 1,800 tonnes of marine diesel on board and environmental activists were seriously concerned about a possible spillage polluting the mudflats of the Wadden Sea, a UN Cultural Heritage Site. Concerns about the ship’s structural stability only grew when repeated attempts to pull the GLORY AMSTERDAM off the sandbank at high tide failed. The specialists from Rotterdam-based Smit Salvage knew they had just one last card to play. If that attempt failed, the oil would have to be pumped out and the bulk carrier broken up where it lay stranded – a precarious task in an ecologically sensitive environment.

But after 18,000 tonnes of ballast water had been pumped out of the GLORY AMSTERDAM, the two ocean-going tugs FAIRMOUNT SUMMIT and UNION MANTA successfully pulled the vessel off the sandbank on 2 November. 41,000 horsepower had done the trick! The GLORY AMSTERDAM was then towed to Wilhelmshaven where divers examined the hull for possible damage. Investigations into the role played by the captain and crew in the stranding of the bulk carrier are ongoing.

GLORY AMSTERDAM got refloated: https://www.fleetmon.com/maritime-news/2017/20319/both-grounded-bulk-carriers-refloated-germany/