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Effort to begin wrecked Northguider trawler begins (again), travel in area banned until job completed in September

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During a year where pretty much everything seems new and/or different, there’s one summer rerun/sequel in the works in Svalbard as crews are attempting again to remove the wrecked Northguider trawler from the northern part of the archipelago after similar efforts failed last year.

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The wrecked Northguider trawler, seen here in the spring of 2019, has resulted in a serious of sensational photographs and not-so-sensational removal efforts since it was ground in late December of 2018. Photo by The Norwegian Coastal Administration.

The Northguider ran aground in Hinlopenstretet on Dec. 28, 2018, and while much of the hazardous materials aboard were removed during subsequent weeks, harsh weather, ice conditions and other factors have prevented efforts to tow the vessel away and then salvage it when it became clear the vessel was too damaged to be removed intact. But a press release issued by the Norwegian Coastal Administration this week stated removal work is again underway and is expected to continue until Sept. 30.

“The trawler must be divided into smaller parts (approx. 50 parts of five tons) which are lifted onto a barge and then transported away,” the release notes. “The method does not require longer continuous periods of good weather. It will also be less time consuming to stop the operation and start up again when ice and weather conditions change.”

The wreck “poses little danger of significant acute environmental pollution,” the coastal administration stated. But because it is in a protected area and can break down further the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act mandates the ship’s owner remove the vessel.

“There has never been a wreckage removal carried out so far north,” the release adds.

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The area in north Svalbard where access is off-limits until Sept. 30 due to efforts to remove the wrecked Northguider trawler. Map by the The Norwegian Coastal Administration.

The banned travel area in Hinlopenstredet includes a sea area bounded by the shoreline at Sparreneset and straight lines between the following positions:

• 1) 79°54.29 ′ N, 18°04.54 ′ E

• 2) 79°54.38 ′ N, 17°58.82 ′ E

• 3) 79°53.05 ′ N, 18°00.34 ′ E

• 4) 79°53.60 ′ N, 18°06.37 ′ E

The removal is being done by the salvage company SMIT Salvage, which attempted the project in 2019. Two barges, tugs for them, anchor handling vessels and vessels that will be able to keep small amounts of ice away from the work area will be involved. In addition, the former research ship Lance will participate. The work starts this week and is scheduled to take place until around mid-September.

Opilio AS, the company that owns the Northguiderwas fined 300,000 kroner and the ship’s captain 35,000 kroner earlier this summer for safety and navigation violations.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
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