Emergencies: “Fremantle Highway” is towed to Eemshaven

2023-08-03 00:42:34

Emergencies “Fremantle Highway” is towed to Eemshaven

The badly damaged car freighter “Fremantle Highway” in the North Sea. photo

© Arca/Rijkswaterstaat/Coastguard of the Netherlands/dpa

For more than a week, the car freighter was bobbing in flames off the Dutch coast. The dangers for the environment are great. Now the freighter is brought to safety.

The car freighter, which was severely damaged by a major fire in the North Sea, will be in the Dutch seaport this Thursday Eemshaven towed. This was announced by the national water authority on Thursday night. Eemshaven is the closest seaport to the boat’s current anchorage, some 16 kilometers to the north of the Wadden Sea island of Schiermonnikoog. After a good week, the “Fremantle Highway” is thus recovered.

Eemshaven is on the German border at about the height of Emden. The port is the best option given the bad weather conditions, infrastructure and short distance, the agency said. This would limit risks.

Fire is under control

The transport over a distance of around 64 kilometers is scheduled to start this morning. But the departure and arrival times are heavily dependent on the weather, currents and tides, the authority said. The ship is accompanied by salvage specialists and a special ship that can clean up leaking oil in an emergency.

According to the water authority, the “Fremantle Highway” is stable at its current anchorage. The fire is also under control. But the risk of an environmental catastrophe for the islands and the Wadden Sea remained high. The heavily damaged freighter has around 1.6 million liters of heavy fuel oil and almost 3,800 cars on board.

Dangers of strong winds

The salvage company Boskalis had warned that the freighter would be difficult to control in the expected strong north-west wind. The freighter can be unloaded in the port. The Japanese shipowner then decides whether the ship will be scrapped or repaired.

The “Fremantle Highway” was on its way from Bremerhaven to Singapore when a fire broke out a week ago. The source of the fire was probably the battery of an electric car. But that’s not confirmed yet. A man from India had died during the evacuation of the ship. The remaining 22 crew members were rescued.

dpa