Update: Fuel Oil Removed from Sunken Flinterstar

All remaining heavy fuel oil (HFO 380) has been removed from the general cargo ship Flinterstar, which sank after colliding with the LNG tanker Al-Oraiq off Belgium’s Zeebruggee on October 6, Dutch shipping company Flinter, the owner of the ship, said in an update.

The 2002-built Flinterstar had around 427 tons of heavy fuel oil and 125 tons of diesel at the time of the incident, an undetermined amount of which leaked into the North Sea.

Dutch salvage and towage companies Multraship and Smit Salvage started removing heavy fuel oil and diesel oil from the vessel on October 10. The oil was pumped to the specialised offshore supply ship Vos Sympathy, with the salvage rescue vessel Offshore Beaver performing the cleanup of any leaked oil.

“Divers and salvage teams did a great job by removing the HFO from the more difficult to reach tanks like the day- and settling tanks in the flooded engine room,” the update reads.

“Work will now continue to remove the Gasoil from the tanks. Unfortunately the full moon means spring tides, resulting in less diving time,” the company added.

World Maritime News Staff