Norwegian salvage tug Sea1 Ruby has reached the 8,450 TEU Maersk Sana adrift approximately 75 nautical miles west off the coast of Bermuda.
The 21-year old vessel suffered an engine room explosion on April 28 leaving three crew members injured, including one seriously. At least two crew have since been taken off the ship for treatment as Maersk Sana has remained on auxiliary power only for nearly 3 weeks. The vessel has retained limited maneuvering capability.
Sea1 Ruby, an anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel from Sea1 Offshore, departed from Bergen, Norway nearly two weeks ago on May 4. The Norwegian-flagged 3,793 DWT vessel was built in 2010.
AIS data show the tug reaching the container ship early on May 16. According to Maersk the two vessels will make way toward the Bahamas and are expected to reach port by the end of May.
The investigation into the cause of the incident remains ongoing, Maersk said last week.
“As we always do in such cases, we have initiated an investigation into the incident, which currently is ongoing, and we are currently in close dialogue with the relevant stakeholders. While the investigation is ongoing, we cannot go into further details about the incident. Safety is of paramount importance and will be an important part of our investigation.”
The vessel had undergone a standard inspection without any deficiencies on April 16 in Charleston, South Carolina according to the USCG.
The company faced criticism for not dispatching a salvage vessel from the U.S. East Coast or nearby ports and rather relying on a tug boat more than 3,000 nautical miles away. Maersk justified the decision with the need to find the right vessel, rather than the closest one.
Calm seas have aided Maersk in the operation. Since the explosion 345 nautical miles east of Bermuda Maersk Sana has passed to the north and northwest of the archipelago.
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