A heavily damaged and “potentially explosive” cargo ship under close surveillance in the Channel area

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On the date of October 7, 2024the cargo Ruby is still at anchor in the North Sea, off the coast of Kent, east of England.

The ship, 183 meters long and 27.80 m wide, could have blended into the crowd, among the many boats that sail in North Sea Channelmore than 600 ships per day in transit. But its cargo of 20 000 tonnes de nitrate d’ammoniumfertilizer potentially explosivegives you cold sweats.

A road off the Cotentin

If it follows the planned route, “towards the port of Valletta, Malta”, where it “should arrive on October 11 at 6 p.m.”, we can read on the maritime traffic monitoring websites, in this case VesselFinder, the cargo ship under the Maltese flag should use the Casquets rail, and therefore pass off the Cotentin (Channel), around thirty nautical miles from the coast (nearly 60 km).

The concern is that this ship, built in 2012, is very damaged and suffered greatly in the storm Lilianwhile off the coast of Norway, in addition to carrying potentially explosive fertilizer. Ammonium nitrate is at the origin of the tragedy which caused the death of 200 people in 2020 in the port of Beirut, Lebanon.

Under close surveillance

Departing in August from beyond the Arctic Circle, from the port of Kandalakcha, in Russia, Ruby has since in the center of attention by many media and under increased surveillance by the maritime prefecture.

Already, in September 2024, the authority assuredWest France: “It is escorted by a tugboat and will reach the Channel tomorrow (Wednesday September 25). As it descends towards Malta, it will be on the English waters side. But we are aware of his situation and are ready to intervene. »

“We are in regular contact with the shipowner who is collaborative. Moreover, he dispatched a tugboat to be able to provide him with assistance in the anchorage area where he is currently”, also commented Étienne Baggio, spokesperson for the Manche maritime prefecture, to TF1 for the 1 p.m. news this Sunday, October 6, 2024.

The prefecture affirms that the cargo will not be not authorized to dock in France with its cargo.

But if no state wants him, he won’t be able to wander at sea for long either given his condition.

A call for a favorable outcome

In a press release published on October 4, 2024, the environmental defense associations Mor Glaz and Robin des Bois underline how the cargo ship is “obviously no longer able to cross the Atlantic as if nothing had happened. As a precautionary measure, it is under permanent assistance of a tugboat. To date, there is no sign of thermal degradation of the Ruby’s cargo, unlike what has already happened on board ships in the North Sea and the Bay of Biscay with, for example, the Purple Beach ( 2015) and M/V Cheshire (2017). »

“The Mor Glaz and Robin des Bois associations demand that real cooperation between the producer of the cargo in Russia, the shipowner based in the United Arab Emirates, Great Britain and the European states be put in place quickly and calmly on the basis reliable information to find the optimal solution guaranteeing the crew of 19 sailors, the majority of whom are Syrian, the Ruby and the environment a favorable outcome possibly involving the unloading of the cargo at the dock, the in-depth assessment of the damage to the ship and its repair. »

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