AMSA: Damaged livestock carrier brought to safety

After sustaining damage to its hull, a livestock carrier has been successfully brought into the Port of Geraldton, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

The ship in question is MV Barkly Pearl and flies the Mashall Islands flag.

The 1993-built ship arrived in Australian waters from Indonesia, data from MarineTraffic shows. It had no livestock onboard, local media reported.

Barkly Pearl was approximately 120 kilometres north of Geraldton when AMSA became involved.

“Last night, AMSA tasked its Challenger search and rescue jet to fly over the vessel and it was able to confirm damage to the starboard side of the vessel, which was listing to port,” the maritime authority said on 3 November.

AMSA General Manager of Response Mark Morrow said there were significant concerns for the integrity of the vessel and its ability to safely reach Indonesia, its planned destination.

“We held concerns about the integrity of the vessel and the potential for environmental issues,” Morrow said.

“As a result, AMSA issued a Direction for the vessel to make its way to safety in the Port of Geraldton.”

In a separate statement, Mid West Port Authority (MWPA), the port authority in Geraldton, said that shipmaster of Barkly Pearl has provided a health declaration of the crew on board stating that none of them is showing COVID-19 symptoms.

MWPA added that it had not been made aware of any environmental impacts but it would deploy a boom around the vessel as a precaution.