Norwegian Cargo Ship Freed After Near Miss with Coastal Home

A recent publication by AP News highlights an intriguing incident involving a cargo ship that ran aground in Norway, narrowly avoiding a nearby home. The NCL salten, measuring 135 meters in length and registered under the Cypriot flag, became stranded on the shores of Trondheim Fjord on May 22 but was successfully refloated on May 27.

The vessel found itself lodged in the Byneset area, just a few meters from Johan Helberg’s residence. Fortunately for Helberg, while his property sustained damage to a heating pipe, his house remained intact. He recounted waking up to a neighbor’s urgent knock at his door informing him of the situation.Salvage crews from BOA offshore managed to pull the ship back into deeper waters using tugboats around 10:30 AM local time. Remarkably, this operation took only about half an hour and went off without any hitches during its first attempt.

Before attempting to refloat the ship, teams unloaded some containers on May 26 to lighten its load—particularly at the bow. thankfully, all sixteen crew members were unharmed and there were no reports of oil spills resulting from this mishap.

However, Norwegian authorities revealed that the second officer—a Ukrainian man in his thirties—admitted he had dozed off while steering the vessel and is now facing charges for negligent navigation. Investigators are also probing whether proper regulations regarding crew rest periods were adhered to as none of the ship’s collision alarms activated during this incident.

Helberg expressed relief that disaster was avoided; he told local broadcaster TV2 how blessed he felt that instead of crashing into rocks—which could have propelled it directly into his home—the situation turned out as it did. “It wasn’t many meters off,” he remarked about how close it came to being much worse.

Interestingly enough, this isn’t NCL Salten’s first brush with trouble; according to Bente Hetland, CEO of its shipping company, it has previously run aground twice—once in Hadsel earlier this year and again in Ålesund last year.

Ole T. Bjørnevik from BOA Offshore shared with local media that they completed their task more efficiently than anticipated without complications arising during recovery efforts.As inspections continue for NCL Salten post-refloating and unloading operations proceed smoothly, authorities remain focused on uncovering all factors leading up to this unusual maritime event.

References: AP News