Bunker Spill As Dutch Freighter Sinks After Collision with LNG Tanker

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Wednesday October 7, 2015

A Dutch-flagged freighter, Flinterstar, has sunk after colliding with Marshall Island-flagged liquified natural gas (LNG) tanker Al-Oraiq Tuesday morning 10 km off the Belgian Coast, resulting in oil leakage from the Flinterstar's tanks, Reuters reports.

While the amount of oil leaked from the 2002-built vessel's tanks was not confirmed, a cleanup operation was reported to be underway.

Vanessa Strijbosch, a spokesperson for the Netherlands Coastguard Service, said that 11 of the 12 crew of the freighter had been pulled to safety from the North Sea waters, while the 12th was said to still be aboard the vessel.

The Al-Oraiq is also reported to have taken on water, but was successfully towed to Zeebrugge and did not leak any petrochemicals.

The collision is said to have held up traffic from entering or exiting the Western Schelt estuary, a popular route to the Port of Antwerp, for several hours, but is not reported to have had any effect on Belgian wholesale gas prices.

In late August, a bunker tanker narrowly avoided capsizing after a collision with a cargo ship off the Northeast coast of Peterhead in Scotland.