A lousy time of the year to run aground off Finland. Then again, there aren’t too many good times of the year to run aground.  Thanks to Dick Bal for passing the news along.

Dutch freighter “Stadiongracht” aground off Rauma

Short past midnight on Dec 29, 2010, the “Stadiongracht” ran aground off Rauma. Most likely the cause was a steering failure when trying to make a turn to take the pilot onboard. At the moment there are negotiations with tug and salvage operators about the refloating. So far no oil spill has been observed, but one ballast tank is holed. The Finnish patrol boat “Tursas” is on scene. The “Stadiongracht” was approaching Rauma on her way from Brazil via Kotka with a load of china clay for the forest industry.