Ship grounded off east coast sold for scrap
A TANKER that ran aground off the coast of Gazimağusa nearly 18 months ago has been sold for scrap.
The Tanzanian-flagged M/T Rawan, built in 1995, was auctioned off to a businessman in Turkey for an undisclosed fee, a recent statement from the Public Works and Transport Ministry said.
The ship dropped anchor at Gazimağusa Port on March 1, 2019 due to a “generator fault”. On January 17, 2020, the vessel was pushed ashore in the Gülseren area during a storm.
Following the sale it has now been refloated and towed back to a shipyard located in Gazimağusa Port where it will be dismantled and converted into scrap to be sent to Turkey.
It was revealed that the tanker was sold at public auction in April and that its sale, following a legal wrangle with its owners, has made a “great financial contribution to Gazimağusa Port”.
Public Works and Transport Minister Resmiye Canaltay said that she had taken “immediate action” to sell the ship after coming to office earlier this year to “avoid a potential environmental disaster”.
Gazimağusa Shipyard Ltd founder Ramazan Gündoğdu explained that “experienced staff and equipment” were used to refloat and tow the tanker to the shipyard, including a “55tonne sea crane and a 1,500 HP tugboat”.
He stated that the tanker was sealed after water inside it was drained off before being refloated in the open sea “without harming the environment”.
Mr Gündoğdu said that another abandoned ship, the M-V Chrisdul, will also be salvaged and towed to the shipyard using the same method.
The Public Works and Transport Ministry confirmed that the M-V Chrisdul has also been sold via an auction.
It ran aground south-west of Oxo island in the Laguna region off the coast of Gazimağusa in December 2016.
According to the website MarineTraffic.com the M/T
Rawan is an “Oil Products Tanker” which is 73m long and 12m wide.
The M-V Chrisdul, also a under the flag of Tazania, was built in 1977 and is 50m long and 8m wide. Previous attempts to salvage the cargo ship failed.
The vessel — under its previous name, the Haj Zaher — also ran aground in 2014, off Girne, leaving some 240 refugees aboard to be rescued after the captain and crew deserted the ship.