Norwegian Pearl section salvaged

mikebukid · 01-18-2006, 05:12 PM

Yikes!

Quote:

A section for NCL's newbuilding Norwegian Pearl, currently under construction at Meyer Werft (Papenburg), which fell off a pontoon last week whilst under tow to the yard, has been successfully salvaged.

Prefabricated in Poland, the 30mtr long section weighing 70 tons was loaded on a pontoon under tow by the Ems Tug. Shortly after midnight on January 9 the tug and pontoon had set course out of the Elbe River, heading towards the Ems in order to proceed to Papenburg. The ro-ro vessel Tor Dania, heading for Cuxhaven, passed between the tug and tow causing the tow rope to sever and as a result the pontoon hit against the hull of Tor Dania which suffered a 12 x 3mtr hole.
One of the ship's sections, loaded on the pontoon, fell over-board and sank in the Elbe. It was located later the same day in a depth of approximately 23mtr. It was salvaged by a floating crane on Monday and has since been transported to the yard.
A Meyer Werft spokesman quoted in the German press says the incident will not effect the delivery date for Norwegian Pearl, due to be handed over to NCL in spring 2007.
It is also understood that other sections loaded on the pontoon - among them the ship's funnel - were not seriously damaged in the collision. It is unclear at this stage if the salvaged section can still be used. It is not yet known why the officer on duty onboard Tor Dania failed to notice the Ems Tug and pontoon.

BBT · 01-18-2006, 07:12 PM

Seems that NCL and Meyer Werft haven't had a lot of luck keeping their ships "out of the drink" before they are delivered

. I will say that M W does do a tremendous job building ships.