1997 built “MV Victoria” is a 27,792dwt bulk carrier owned by the Swedish Transport Agency. On Saturday 19th September 2015, early evening, she ran aground on a shoal at about 15 nautical miles from Varberg, Sweden. At around midnight the Swedish Coast Guard was informed of the incident by the crew of another vessel.
The Liberian flagged 46,000 DWT MV Victoria was transporting about 1,000 cubic metres of heavy fuel oil and 200 cubic metres of distillate fuel as well as wheat, from Rostock, Germany to Guinea.
A dive inspection on the next day revealed a 3 meter gash in the ship’s hull below the waterline.
As of Tuesday, a salvage tug, two coast guard vessels and a tanker were deployed on the scene to remove the 550,000 litre fuel oil in the vessel’s fuel tank located close to the grounding point. The fuel oil will have to be transferred to the waiting tanker, before the vessel can be re-floated. One of the tug boats reported finding sideways movement from the Victoria, due to the wind and waves. In addition two emergency response vessels were deployed to tackle any environmental emergency that may arise. So far no pollution or oil spill has been reported. The agency is hopeful of freeing the vessel by 27th September 2015.
