Speculation rife over ship in Kells
A NUMBER of scenarios speculating as to why a cargo ship has been anchored just outside Castlemaine Harbour for the last fortnight were knocked on the head by the Coastguard this week.
General cargo vessel Martha, which put out from Montreal, Canada, is merely waiting on orders to progress onto an unspecified European port likely due to the backlog in processing goods at many centres due to the pandemic.
The ship, currently anchored off Kells Bay, has piqued the curiosity of numerous Iveragh residents in the past week as it showed no signs whatsoever of moving off – an unusual set of circumstances rarely witnessed by the sharp-eyed ship watchers on land.
Speculation has ranged from scenarios having the ship grounding to a halt in Irish waters in order to carry out repairs, to carrying out survey work on the sea bed. Some had even wondered if the ship’s navigation system had mistakenly sent it to the wrong Valentia – based on ‘Valentia’ appearing to show as a destination on a marine tracker website. However, that citation for the island would appear as just a proximate maritime location of its current position.
“It’s just sitting tight waiting for its orders,” a spokesperson for the Valentia Coastguard told The Kerryman. “There’s nothing more to it than that. The captain just picked a nice, quiet spot to put into, and there are many boats along the coast sitting tight at the moment, waiting for orders to move on.”
He said the Martha was bound for European waters when ordered to sit tight, explaining the unusual situation is a result of the pandemic leading to a backlog in traffic and goods-processing at major ports. The Coastguard said it had no involvement in the situation other than to satisfy itself all was well, as is the case, they said.