Kirkenes rid of Russian ghost ship
An abandoned Russian trawler has been removed from Kirkenes after taking up expensive harbor space for six years.
This is the second of a total of six old, Russian trawlers that the harbor authorities in Kirkenes manage to have removed. The trawlers have been stripped of all electronic equipment and other valuables years ago.
Trawler “Parsek” was brought back to its homeland by a Russian tug last Thursday after lying abandoned and rusting in central Kirkenes since 2005, Sør-Varanger municipality’s web site reads. The vessel has been sold to a ship breaker in Murmansk.
While the trawler was in Kirkenes, the quay owner and the local harbor administration bore responsibility for it. Last winter “Parsek” took in 110 cubic meters of sea water in the engine room and started sinking. The trawler had to be pumped and the contaminated water sent to southern Norway for utilization.
Harbor Master Eivind Gade-Lundlie says that getting rid of the vessel has been a long and difficult process. – The harbor council has repeatedly tried to have the vessel put up for compulsory sale and the arbitration court in Murmansk, where the vessel used to be registered, has made the ship owner bankrupt.
The harbor authorities in Kirkenes still have four abandoned Russian trawlers to get rid of – two are located in Kirkenes and two in the harbor of Vadsø.
- The fact that we managed to get “Parsek” out of the way makes me optimistic when it comes to having the remaining floating environmental threats removed, Gade-Lundlie says.
