- The 2016-built VLOC Stellar Banner, owned by South Korea’s Polaris Shipping, has run aground off the Brazilian coast after leaving Vale’s Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in the state of Maranhao, on February 27.
- Salvage tugs are in place trying to keep the grounded Stellar Banner very large ore carrier from rocking too much in the waves.
- A flyover by an aircraft equipped with sensors for oil detection identified a thin oil stain in the area where the ship was stranded.
Salvage process is underway for the grounded Stellar Banner, writes Sam Chambers for Splash 247.
Salvage tugs are in place trying to keep the grounded Stellar Banner very large ore carrier from rocking too much in the waves for fear the ship’s hull will breach and its 4,000 tons of bunker oil will spill out.
Polaris Shipping VLOC runs aground
The Polaris Shipping giant bulker ran into trouble 100 km into its journey from Brazil to China on the night of 24th February.
Salvors from Ardent Global are formulating plans to empty the fully laden ship’s bunker fuel, refloat the ship and tow it back to the terminal it had just left to offload the more than 290,000 tons of iron ore it is carrying.
Possible oil leak
There appears to be a dispute as to whether the ship has already started to leak oil.
A flyover, on the morning of 28th February, by an aircraft equipped with sensors for oil detection identified a thin oil stain with a radius of approximately 830 m in the area where the ship was stranded.
Polaris officials maintain however that the oil observed was a residue of the so called dead oil on deck, and not a leak from the fuel tanks.
Oil prevention equipment has been brought on site.
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Source: Splash 247
