Kiel Canal Reopens After Bulldozers Secure Half-Sunk MV Siderfly [PHOTOS]

Bulldozers attached to the MV Siderfly in the Kiel Canal, October 31, 2013. Image courtesy CCME

The Kiel Canal in Germany partially reopened Thursday after a three-day closure caused by a ship collision which left a 100-meter cargo ship on the verge of sinking into the busy waterway.

Germany’s Maritime Central Command for Maritime Emergency’s (CCME) says that Canal officials reopened the canal to vessels up to 140 meters in length at approximately 11:30 a.m. after the MV Siderfly was secured to shore using bulldozers.

Three tugs, which have been holding the ship to the canal embankment since the Monday collision, were replaced Wednesday by at least three bulldozers. Crews apparently cut into the wooded area lining the canal to provide room for the bulldozers to attach to the ship with cables.

The canal had been closed since the MV Siderfly, carrying fertilizer, collided with the gas carrier Coral Ivory at about 3 a.m. Monday morning.  The collision punctured two large holes into the hull of the Siderfly, causing the ship list heavily and leak diesel into the waterway. The Coral Ivory, carrying a cargo of ammonia, did not sustain any damage and was brought to the nearby port of Brunsbüttel.

FULL COVERAGE: Ship Collision Closes Kiel Canal

With the ship secure, salvors will now work to lighten the Siderfly by transferring its fertilizer cargo onto trucks.

MV SIDERFLY INCIDENT PHOTOS:

Updated: November 2, 2013 (Originally published October 31, 2013)

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