A highly damaged cargo ship is in a tough situation as it is not being able to dock amid fears of port officials that the potentially explosive cargo it is carrying will turn it into a “floating mega bomb.”
The officials are not just concerned about the 20,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate that is being carried by MV Ruby, even though a smaller amount of this fertilizer component had blown up the Port of Beirut in 2020, as reported by The New York Times.
They are also concerned that the 600-foot vessel, which is owned by Maltese company Ruby Enterprise and is registered in Malta, is moving along the northern European coastline filled with Russian fertiliser from a Russian port, which creates high chances of it being a Trojan horse which can sabotage some European port.
“When we are dealing with Russia or other international actors that are unfriendly to us, we always keep this possibility in mind,” said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, after the Parliament was informed by the country’s prime minister that the ship won’t be permitted to dock there.
Other European leaders also decided to leave the ship in limbo as it floated near the coast of southeastern England with a damaged propeller and cracked hull.
The United Arab Emirates said to its people that the ship did not threaten them, stated the Times.
Ruby’s doomed voyage
The voyage of Ruby vessel appeared doomed from the start. It started sailing from the Russian port of Kandalaksha, which was on the northwestern coast of the country, back in August.
However, it soon ran aground and the damages stopped it from moving towards its destination ports in Africa, reported the Times.
The ship sailed through the European coast in search of a friendly port which would give it permission to repair and refurbish its vessel but failed to find one.
It then sailed to Norway where it was detained outside the city of Tromso by the port officials so that inspectors could examine the damage, as stated by the Norwegian Maritime Authority.
“There were damages to the rudder, and propeller and some cracks in the hull. As far as we know, the damages have not affected the cargo on board,” said a spokesman for the authority while speaking to the Times.
“Unfortunately, due to the media speculation that has surrounded this vessel, port terminals in the UK are reticent to take the vessel in,” said the ship’s manager, in a statement.
