October 12 - Recovery of oil from Flinterstar, which collided nearly head-on with the tanker Al-Oraiq off the Belgian coast last week, has made good progress according to Dutch shipping line Flinter.
Salvage of the partially sunken general cargo ship continues off the coast of Belgium as the oil spill clean-up finishes and the inquiry into what happened continues.
HLPFI understands that Flinterstar is in a stable condition but media reports elsewhere suggest that damage to the vessel is worse than expected and the ship has been declared a total loss.
Flinterstar was built in 2002 and had just departed Antwerp bound for Bilbao, Spain when it collided with the Al-Oraiq about 16 miles (10 km) from the coast. Flinter's fleet consists of more than 50 vessels under its ownership or control. Most are multi-purpose vessels ranging in sizes up to 11,000 dwt.
Photo courtesy of Flinter.
