Dyflin
Well-Known Member
REPAIRS were under way last night (Monday) to stop water entering the Faroese superferry Norröna after one of her stabilizers punched a 20 cm hole below the water line on her port side during a violent storm.
The 163 metre vessel limped into Lerwick Harbour yesterday at around 6pm after suffering a blackout and engine failure en route between Bergen and Tórshavn, late on Sunday night.
One of her stabilizers punctured the hull of the five year old vessel while she was drifting half way between Norway and Shetland in 12 metre waves.
The heavy motion and "hard manoeuvres" also resulted in between 50 to 60 cars being damaged on the car deck. None of the 325 people on board were injured.
Engineers on board the vessel were able to activate a back up system and restart the main engine, and then set their course for Lerwick, the nearest port. Ironically the Norröna stopped calling at the Shetland capital just six weeks ago after dropping the islands off her summer schedule.
Last night Neil Ward, a welder with Lerwick Engineering and Fabrication (LEF), said that the stabilizer on the port side had come loose and punctured the hull of the vessel to create a 20 cm gash that was letting in water.
"It's split and we will try and press the split back together again and weld it up. The split is about two metres below water level,” he said.
"It's a dent that's actually split the hull itself and it's letting in a fair amount of water at the moment, but the divers are going down to block it off so we can get it welded up."
The Smyril Line vessel with 244 passengers and 81 crew on board is expected to remain berthed at Lerwick until at least lunchtime today.
A senior officer working on the bridge said that they were waiting for a specialist diver from Faroe who was due to arrive in Shetland in the morning.
Also last night, passengers were for the first time allowed to enter the car deck to see the damage to their vehicles for themselves.
The officer said: "We have about 210 cars on board and there are about 60 cars damaged. There is also one trailer that had turned over and damaged around 12 cars. The other cars were damaged because they moved as the vessel listed."
Shetland has a £4.2 million share in Smyril Line. Bobby Hunter, the isles' director on the board of the company, was in Faroe for a board meeting last night and could not be contacted.
A security fence has been set up around the Norröna in Lerwick harbour, 13th November 2007However, earlier yesterday he said that it was too early to speculate what had caused the vessel to suffer a blackout.
"As a precaution we want to assess what the situation is. And until it has been assessed it would be premature for me to make any statement," Mr Hunter said yesterday afternoon.
The £60 million ferry only re-entered service in the north east Atlantic on Saturday after being in dry dock in Hamburg for the previous two weeks.
She was on her way from Bergen to the Faroese capital Tórshavn when she lost all power half way between Norway and Shetland.
Stavanger Coastguard alerted Aberdeen Coastguard at 11.20 on Sunday night, but was told that the situation was under control.
http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/news_11_2007/Norrona%20is%20holed%20up%20in%20Lerwick.htm
The 163 metre vessel limped into Lerwick Harbour yesterday at around 6pm after suffering a blackout and engine failure en route between Bergen and Tórshavn, late on Sunday night.
One of her stabilizers punctured the hull of the five year old vessel while she was drifting half way between Norway and Shetland in 12 metre waves.
The heavy motion and "hard manoeuvres" also resulted in between 50 to 60 cars being damaged on the car deck. None of the 325 people on board were injured.
Engineers on board the vessel were able to activate a back up system and restart the main engine, and then set their course for Lerwick, the nearest port. Ironically the Norröna stopped calling at the Shetland capital just six weeks ago after dropping the islands off her summer schedule.
Last night Neil Ward, a welder with Lerwick Engineering and Fabrication (LEF), said that the stabilizer on the port side had come loose and punctured the hull of the vessel to create a 20 cm gash that was letting in water.
"It's split and we will try and press the split back together again and weld it up. The split is about two metres below water level,” he said.
"It's a dent that's actually split the hull itself and it's letting in a fair amount of water at the moment, but the divers are going down to block it off so we can get it welded up."
The Smyril Line vessel with 244 passengers and 81 crew on board is expected to remain berthed at Lerwick until at least lunchtime today.
A senior officer working on the bridge said that they were waiting for a specialist diver from Faroe who was due to arrive in Shetland in the morning.
Also last night, passengers were for the first time allowed to enter the car deck to see the damage to their vehicles for themselves.
The officer said: "We have about 210 cars on board and there are about 60 cars damaged. There is also one trailer that had turned over and damaged around 12 cars. The other cars were damaged because they moved as the vessel listed."
Shetland has a £4.2 million share in Smyril Line. Bobby Hunter, the isles' director on the board of the company, was in Faroe for a board meeting last night and could not be contacted.
A security fence has been set up around the Norröna in Lerwick harbour, 13th November 2007However, earlier yesterday he said that it was too early to speculate what had caused the vessel to suffer a blackout.
"As a precaution we want to assess what the situation is. And until it has been assessed it would be premature for me to make any statement," Mr Hunter said yesterday afternoon.
The £60 million ferry only re-entered service in the north east Atlantic on Saturday after being in dry dock in Hamburg for the previous two weeks.
She was on her way from Bergen to the Faroese capital Tórshavn when she lost all power half way between Norway and Shetland.
Stavanger Coastguard alerted Aberdeen Coastguard at 11.20 on Sunday night, but was told that the situation was under control.
http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/news_11_2007/Norrona%20is%20holed%20up%20in%20Lerwick.htm
