
Photo: British Royal National Lifeboat
As we posted on Sunday, the passengers on the NorthLink ferry Hrossey, crossing Pentland Firth, off Scotland, saw a grim sight out the ferry windows — the bow of the cement carrier Cemfjord floating vertically in the water. The ship was loaded with 2,000 tonnes of cement and had sailed from Aalborg in Denmark bound for Runcorn in Cheshire. Eight crew, seven Poles and one Filipino, are missing and are presumed to have drowned when the ship sank.
There are now serious questions as to whether the ship should ever have been allowed to sail. The Cemford sailed with several serious mechanical deficiencies. There was a serious problem with her bilge pumps. Though managed by the German company, Brise of Hamburg, the ship was registered is Cyprus. The Cypriot authorities required the ship to carry two portable pumps on board the ship, presumably to supplement the ship’s bilge pumps, and limited the ship’s operation to 150 miles from the coast. The ship also had a faulty lifeboat davit, so an additional life raft was required to be carried. One life raft was spotted after the ship sank, but no one was aboard.