Свиток: развернуть Irish lambast Canada for letting ‘biohazard’ derelict cruise ship MV Lyubov Orlova bob toward Emerald Isle Republish Reprint
Tristin Hopper | October 23, 2013 7:56 PM ET
This undated handout picture shows the former Russian cruise ship "MV Lyubov Orlova". The around 100 meters long vessel is drifting in international waters near the coast of Canada since it broke away in January 2013 when it was towed for deconstruction to the Dominican Republic. AFP PHOTO / DIETMAR HASENPUSCHThis undated handout picture shows the former Russian cruise ship "MV Lyubov Orlova". The around 100 meters long vessel is drifting in international waters near the coast of Canada since it broke away in January 2013 when it was towed for deconstruction to the Dominican Republic.
The chief of the Irish Coast Guard is expressing frustration with Canadian authorities for their February decision to send a derelict, rat-infested “biohazard” bobbing toward the Emerald Isle.
“It was over 10 days from when it went missing to when we were told about it,” Irish Coast Guard director Chris Reynolds told the Irish Independent this week. “We would have been much happier if they told us much earlier.”
“We could have sank it or towed it in for salvage.”
The biohazard in question is the MV Lyubov Orlova, a former Arctic cruise ship that broke free from its tow line eight months ago while being pulled out of St. John’s harbour in Newfoundland. It was destined for a scrapyard in the Dominican Republic.
‘Accident waiting to happen’: Derelict Russian cruise ship drifts dangerously close to Newfoundland oil platforms ‘Ghost ship’ spotted drifting toward the Irish coast after it was hauled out of Canadian waters
Although briefly corralled by a private supply ship, the Orlova was cut loose into international waters as soon as it was clear of Canadian offshore oil platforms.
Transport Canada then announced it had “decided not to pursue the drifting vessel,” due to safety concerns.
Besides, “given current patterns and predominant winds,” the agency said, “it is very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction.”
Instead the Yugoslavia-built cruise ship became a logistical nightmare for Irish maritime authorities.
In a February statement to the National Post, the Irish Department of Transport detailed the unprecedented regime of computer modelling and satellite data they quickly marshalled to figure out if, and when the rusty hulk would come smashing into Galway harbour.
As of Wednesday, however, the MV Lyubov Orlova is still missing. “We can’t be certain it’s sunk, but we can’t be certain it’s not sunk,” Mr. Reynolds told the BBC.
As the liner was enroute to a scrapyard, the Lyubov Orlova had no transponders on board. Speaking to the BBC on Monday, Mr. Reynolds called it “essentially, 4,000 tonnes of metal.”
That, and untold swarms of rats. Before its ill-advised tow into the North Atlantic, the Lyubov Orlova spent two years tied up in St. John’s harbour, virtually guaranteeing its status as a floating rat colony.
Or, as Mr. Reynolds called it, a “biohazard.”
“We don’t want rats from foreign ships coming onto Irish soil. If it came and broke up on shore, I’m sure local people wouldn’t be very happy about it,” Mr. Reynolds told the Irish Independent. Hugo Miller/Bloomberg News Hugo Miller/Bloomberg NewsThe Lyubov Orlova is anchored in Pangnirtung Fjord, Nunavut in 2007. There are growing safety and environmental concerns as the empty former cruise ship drifts toward the open sea off Newfoundland.
A much greater danger than Newfoundland rats, however, is the prospect of the Lyubov Orlova looming out of the fog and obliterating an Irish freighter or fishing vessel.
“For us, the big danger is something hitting it,” Mr. Reynolds told the BBC. “It can bump into something, or more likely, something can bump into it in the middle of the night in the Atlantic.”
Built in communist Yugoslavia in the 1970s, the MV Lyubov Orlova was serving as a luxury Arctic cruise ship when, in 2010, Canadian authorities seized the ship during a stopover in St. John’s as part of a lawsuit led by Cruise North Expeditions against the vessel’s Russian owners.
There it stayed for two years before a scrap merchant picked up the ship for $275,000, hooked it up to an underpowered tug and set it on a course for the Dominican Republic.
To the surprise of few veteran Newfoundland mariners, the tow line snapped after only 24 hours.
Last month, NDP transport critic Olivia Chow said the rogue ship had been cut loose by the “benign neglect” of Canadian authorities.
“Transport Canada should never have allowed it to be towed out of port in the dead of winter,” she told Newfoundland’s The Telegram.
“Even for a city-slicker like me, I can tell you that in winter in the Maritimes, that’s the worst time for a ship to be towed,” she added, unwittingly proving her city-slicker status by confusing Newfoundland with the Maritimes. |