A Russian “ghost” ship has alarmed the ports of half of Europe and is now causing great concern to Great Britain. Ruby, a cargo ship flying the Maltese flag, is in fact considered a real danger due to the load it carries with it. Twenty thousand tons of ammonium nitrate: a chemical compound that is used as a fertilizer but also in explosives. In August 2020, 3,000 tons were enough to devastate the port and city of Beirut and kill 200 people.
But it’s not just the cargo that causes concern: the cargo, which left the port of Kandalaksha in Northern Russia in July, had serious structural damage due to the crossing.
In fact, a few days after his departure he ran into a storm. Due to rough seas and bad weather it would then have run aground, causing damage to the propeller, the rudder and along the entire hull. A situation that alarmed the Norwegian authorities who on the one hand considered the cargo owned by the Maltese Ruby Enterprise to be fit for navigation and at the same time did not allow entry into the port of Tromso. Same treatment in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda where Ruby was rejected and abandoned to her fate. Algia Latakas, CEO of the port authority, however, declared that the cargo would have been rejected “because of its load”. Cargo and cargo that are now just a few kilometers from the British coast.
In fact, Ruby dropped anchor last September 25th about 25 kilometers from Margate in Kent, not far from the Strait of Dover, one of the busiest areas in the world. According to what AGI has learned, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) – the equivalent of our Coast Guard – said that the ship is “currently safely anchored outside the territorial waters of the United Kingdom, awaiting appropriate conditions to refuel at sea before crossing the Channel”. The journey should end in Marsaxlokk, Malta, but it seems that the Ruby is not welcome on the island either: the Valletta authorities have in fact already declared to the local media that the cargo ship will be able to land in the country only after having disembarked the dangerous load.
#risk #explosion #Tempo
2024-09-29 23:59:12