By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 29 January 2013:
A large bulk carrier has run aground inside Tripoli harbour and local efforts to refloat it . . .[restrict]have failed.
The 28,500 tonne Hong Kong-registered Tasman Sea with a full load of wheat was being navigated to its discharge berth with a pilot, when it ran aground outdie the channel inside Tripoli harbour on Saturday. Since then, according to Lloyds Casualty Reporting Service, there have been four unsuccessful attempts to pull the vessel clear of the mudbank using harbour tugs and a local salvage vessel, together with the ship’s own main engines.
The Port Authority sent divers to inspect the hull and no breach of the hull nor any pollution was discovered. However since local attempts to shift the Tasman Sea, which is owned by Hong Kong’s Pacific Basin Shipping, have failed, Dutch salvage company Smit has been hired to organise lightering to unload the grain from the ship and allow it to float free. [/restrict]
