NYK Sends Team to Clean Up Crimson Polaris Oil Spill

NYK, charterer of the Crimson Polaris, says it will send a team to assist with the clean-up of an oil spill that has resulted from the wreck.

As we have reported, the dedicated wood chip carrier Crimson Polaris broke up after briefly running aground in heavy weather off the coast of Port of Hachinohe back on August 11. The ship was reported to be carrying 1,550 metric tons of heavy fuel oil and about 130 metric of diesel oil at the time of the accident. It’s unclear how much oil has spilled.

NYK said previously the crack in the hull initially occurred between the No. 5 cargo hold and the No. 6 cargo hold. The bow is floating and held by an anchor. The stern, which was believed to be aground, has since rolled over.

An update from NYK on Wednesday said the company has now dispatched 10 employees to perform cleaning work of oil and cargo that has washed ashore.

“From the standpoint of being involved in this accident as a charterer, we have decided to first recruit workers to clean the cargo washed ashore on the beach and dispatch them to the site,” NYK said in an update, translated using Google. “The number of people in the first team will be 10, and we plan to dispatch them for one night and two days, and then continue to dispatch the second and third teams.”

The wreck is located about 4 kilometers offshore Hachinohe, on the northeast coast of Japan’s Honshu island.

All crew members were rescued from the vessel prior to the ship breaking up.

NYK said earlier that salvors were considering a plan to tow the separated hull to an unspecified location, but environmental protection was the priority. It’s not clear if those plans remain in place or have changed.

NYK is currently chartering the 2008-built, Panama-flagged Crimson Polaris from owner MI-DAS Line S.A. The ship manager is reported to be Misuga Kaiun Co. Ltd.