Norwegian Ship Sinks:Thousands Of Cars Lost

Sprayber · December 14, 2002, 20:59

Quote:

Norwegian ship sinks in off France following collision

DUNKIRK, France, Dec 14 (AFP) - A Norwegian ship with a cargo of almost 3, 000 new cars sank in shallow waters in the English Channel Saturday after a collision in thick fog with a Bahamas-registered container vessel.

There were no casualties thanks to the speedy arrival of rescue services.

The ship Tricolor keeled over in the early hours after the incident with the container ship Kariba 35 kilometres (20 miles) north of the French Channel port of Dunkirk in one of the world's busiest sea lanes.

The Tricolor was resting on its port side in 30 metres (100 feet) of water, brushing the surface.

The French Maritime Authority here ordered the Norwegian owner, Wilhelmsen Lines, to pump out the ship's 2,000 tonnes of fuel and have the vessel refloated.

It said the owner had called in Dutch salvage company Smit-Tack, which had despatched a vessel to inspect the ship's bunker space and, if need be, have this blocked off by divers and the fuel contained by floating barriers.

Earlier, Captain Antoine Goulley, spokesman of France's Channel and North Sea Maritime Authority said: "The Norwegian owner, Wilhelmsen Lines ... must send a boat to pump out the 2,000 tonnes of fuel supply on board."

A French helicopter overflew the site to check for pollution and an ocean-going tug was standing by to take on board a floating anti-pollution barrier in Dunkirk as a precautionary measure.

But authorities postponed setting up the barrier because of worsening weather conditions and what appeared to be no immediate pollution risk.

The sea had been calm but visibility poor at the time of the collision, rescue services said.

"There was clearly a radar defect aboard at least one of the ships," Goulley said.

Within an hour French rescue teams had taken off the Tricolor crew, including the Norwegian master, a Swede and 22 Filipinos. The vessel began to list and keeled over to port in less than 30 metres (100 feet) of water.

Three crew were picked up by the 175-metre (525-foot) Kariba, which was badly damaged but able to make for the Belgian port of Antwerp with its 21, 000-tonne cargo.

Twenty-one crew were taken by French rescue launches to Dunkirk and accommodated at a sailors' hostel.

A London spokesman for the owners, Wilhelmsen Lines, said the Tricolor had been bound for the English port of Southampton with a cargo of 2,862 new BMW, Volvo and Saab cars worth an estimated total of between 25 million and 31 million euros (dollars), and 77 containers, which had been loaded at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

The ship itself was valued at 25.1 million euros (25.7 million dollars), the spokesman said.

The ships had been navigating on parallel courses, with the Kariba outward bound from Antwerp to the French Channel port of Le Havre, officials here said.

A Belgian naval frigate and a tug stood by at the area of the sinking and other emergency services vessels served as beacons to warn shipping.

The Maritime Authority said the Tricolor would be floated as soon as as it was established there was no pollution threat.

The cars on board, straight from production plants, each had some five litres of oil in their tanks, but this was likely to evaporate quickly and did not present a pollution threat, officials said.

Giancarlo · December 14, 2002, 21:01

I wouldn't want to be the insurance company right now.

DRoseDARs · December 14, 2002, 21:02

25-31 million plus ship worth 25 million all lost?
Ouch...

At least everyone got out safely.

Boris Godunov · December 14, 2002, 21:10

I hope they were mostly SUVs.

Any pics of the sinking? Sinking ships are cool. Hehehehe.

Thrawn05 · December 14, 2002, 21:19

Well, looks like the price of Yugo's have gone up.

Pekka · December 14, 2002, 21:19

3000 cars? what a waste

.
Good thing they have lots of fish to eat.

Sprayber · December 14, 2002, 21:25

First picture taken from the BBC and the bottom picture taken from LCI in France.

http://www.tf1.fr/news/france/0,,971...0ge30=,00.html

C0ckney · December 14, 2002, 21:27

well if those cars were volvos it's no great loss

Seneca · December 14, 2002, 21:30

Cool - no one died, so it's a guilt-free disaster we can just sit back and enjoy!

Thrawn05 · December 14, 2002, 21:32

Crash Dummies are peopel to!!!!!!!!!!

Dr. Nick · December 14, 2002, 21:33

Let us all honour a minute of silence for all those cars.

*End Is Forever* · December 14, 2002, 22:07

Anyone know what sort of cars they were?

C0ckney · December 14, 2002, 22:09

from the article:

Quote:

...with a cargo of 2,862 new BMW, Volvo and Saab cars

DRoseDARs · December 14, 2002, 22:09

Quote:

Originally posted by *End Is Forever*
Anyone know what sort of cars they were?

It's in the first post, silly!

Anyway, here's a quote from the quote of the article:

"A London spokesman for the owners, Wilhelmsen Lines, said the Tricolor had been bound for the English port of Southampton with a cargo of 2,862 new BMW, Volvo and Saab cars worth an estimated total of between 25 million and 31 million euros (dollars), and 77 containers, which had been loaded at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge."

Dr. Nick · December 14, 2002, 22:20

BMW? Saab? Volvo?

*cries disconsoletly*

Seneca · December 14, 2002, 22:24

Quote:

A London spokesman for the owners, Wilhelmsen Lines, said the Tricolor had been bound for the English port of Southampton

Can you blame the poor ship for doing itself in before it got there?

VetLegion · December 14, 2002, 22:31

how deep is it? they may still fish them out and send them to less demanding markets. hell give us coordinates we ll do it ourselves!!

DRoseDARs · December 14, 2002, 22:36

Quote:

Originally posted by VetLegion
how deep is it? they may still fish them out and send them to less demanding markets. hell give us coordinates we ll do it ourselves!!

It's in the first post. Third paragraph, actually.

30 meters or 100 feet underwater

Gatekeeper · December 15, 2002, 00:17

"!!!!!AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!"

That, folks, was the insurance company when asked by reporters how it felt about the sinking.

Gatekeeper

Boris Godunov · December 15, 2002, 03:09

BMWs?! *sob*

Skanky Burns · December 15, 2002, 03:26

/me laughs at the cars.
Yeah, serves them right for being better than my car!

EDIT: Only just noticed my typo now...

Az · December 15, 2002, 03:37

poor BMWs...

Boris Godunov · December 15, 2002, 03:40

They're now gehsunken.

Dis · December 15, 2002, 04:07

this is a sad day in history. I will never forget where I was when I heard this news.

Frozzy · December 15, 2002, 05:07

Remember 12/13!!!

Combat Ingrid · December 15, 2002, 05:45

How do you sink a Norwegian submarine?
You swim down and knock on the door!

How do you sink it a second time?
You swim down and knock on the door. Then they open to tell you "That trick won't work again, mister"!

Sorry, just had to

Dauphin · December 15, 2002, 07:25

What is it with Zeebrugge and sinking ships?

Gangerolf · December 15, 2002, 07:47

Quote:

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
BMWs?! *sob*

to hell with the bmws. think of the SAABs!

Sandman · December 15, 2002, 08:53

Who cares? Freighters sink all the time. They just don't usually get reported.

Lars-E · December 15, 2002, 10:19

Quote:

How do you sink a Norwegian submarine?
You swim down and knock on the door!

How do you sink it a second time?
You swim down and knock on the door. Then they open to tell you "That trick won't work again, mister"!

Funny, we have the exact same jokes about Swedes. So do the Finns I think... 2-1!!

We also have jokes about the "Swede, the Dane, and the Norwegian". Needless to say the Norwegian always comes out looking good.