A ship which lost 60 tonnes of Swedish sawn timber in heavy seas to the east of the UK has limped into the Humber to have its cargo reloaded before continuing to the Port of Shoreham.
The vessel, the Sally, was carrying 3,326m³ of carcassing timber from six Swedish mills – Bergs Timber-Orrefors, Jarlgra AB, Viking, Ata, Rörvik and Emmaboda Hyvlerl – when it ran into trouble 55 miles due east of Lowestoft.
Twenty deck bundles, measuring 1x3m, were washed overboard. Crew members had attempted to secure the cargo but severe weather hampered their efforts and lashings broke loose, sending the timber overboard.
The Norwegian-registered vessel had its last call at Skagen before running into trouble.
A UK coastguard official told TTJ that all but one of the bundles had broken up in the sea, causing a large amount of loose debris. Marine surveyors have been alerted to the ship’s imminent arrival and the Sally was expected to be reloaded at Immingham before going on to Shoreham.
Timber Direct, MDM Timber and QP Timber were the UK receivers of the cargo. The Port of Shoreham said it would know whose cargo was lost when bar codes on the bundles were scanned during unloading.
The Dutch coastguard has dispatched a ship to try to retrieve some of the wood and has also taken a film of the timber slick which will be posted on its website at http://www.kustwacht.nl
Officials said that some of the wood would “probably” be washed ashore in the UK, with a possibility that planks could travel down the English Channel.
