Dubai: Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has released further details about the stricken MOL Comfort which split in two some 200 nautical miles off Yemen on June 17 during bad weather.
The aft part is drifting in an east-northeast direction while the status of the fore part is to be confirmed while the visibility is limited due to adverse weather. A patrol boat departed from Jebel Ali yesterday and is expected to arrive on site on June 24.
“Some of the containers might be lost or damaged during the incident, but majority of the cargo are confirmed to be aboard the aft part. The status of the fore part is to be confirmed,” MOL said in a statement.
MOL has signed up a salvage firm to rescue the cargo and hulls. The Japanese shipping major stressed in its latest release that there was no large volume of oil leakage.
Interestingly, it has come to light that along with with her sister ships, MOL Comfort was the first containership classified by Japan’s ClassNK to utilise ultra high-strength steel with a yeild strength of 470¬†MPa in her hull structure.
Investigations continue in to how a five-year old Japanese-built boxship could suffer such structural damage. Over at GulfShip News Middle East Shipping Network on LinkedIn attention has turned to the storage plan of the containers on the ship.
Via: http://www.gulfshipnews.com/
