Anyone want a cruise ship? Cheap (delivery not included)
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Anyone want a cruise ship? Cheap (delivery not included)
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http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2...an_waters.html
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2...an_waters.html
Abandoned cruise ship drifts out of Canadian waters
The Lyubov Orlova, a cruise ship abandoned after numerous attempts to tow it south, is drifting 600 kilometres northeast of St. John’s for ports unknown.
By: Kamila Hinkson News reporter, Published on Sat Feb 09 2013
It could be weeks, months, or even years before a dilapidated, empty cruise ship reaches shore again.
The Lyubov Orlova was a fixture in Port of St. John’s for more than two years before ill-fated attempts began to tow the boat to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped. It is now drifting in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, abandoned by the government and out of the reach of its owners.
The saga began in 2010 when the ship was seized by Canadian authorities as part of a lawsuit between the ship’s Russian owners and the company that operated it.
The first try to get the ship south, on Jan. 24, failed when the tow line snapped. The ship then began drifting toward an offshore oilpatch. Last week, Husky Energy, an oil and gas company, sent a boat out to tow the ship away from the oilpatch.
A private vessel chartered by Transport Canada took over the tow and was to bring the ship to “a Canadian port,” but “due to weather … the operation could not be completed,” according to a Transport Canada spokesman. The cruise ship is now floating in international waters.
Brad deYoung, a professor of oceanography at Memorial University, said the most likely scenario is that the vessel follows the North Atlantic Current east to Ireland. That could happen in a matter of weeks or months.
Winds could also push the ship northwards into the Labrador Sea, where it could potentially remain for years.
“The thing about the ocean currents (is) you’re in one of the most dynamic regions on the planet, where the currents are kind of all going in different directions,” he said. “So if you just move it 50 kilometres in one way or another, you’re in a strong current that’s going in a quite different direction.”
The Canadian Press reported the ship was bought for $275,000 by Hussein Humayuni, an Iranian scrap merchant in a Federal Court process last year. It also reported the ship’s co-owners are Reza Shoeybi and his uncle, Saeed Shoaibi, both of Toronto.
Though the government was involved in the towing operation, the vessel is ultimately the responsibility of its owners, according to two lawyers.
Clay Hunter, partner with Paterson MacDougall, LLP, likened the situation to this: If a car on a hill were to suddenly start accelerating down the hill, and a police officer tried to stop the car but failed, the police officer wouldn’t be held responsible for any damage done by the car.
Jean-François Bilodeau, a maritime lawyer with Robinson Sheppard Shapiro, said under maritime law, because the vessel is abandoned, anyone can go get it.
“It’s a race, basically. The first to grab hold of the ship will be able to claim salvage rights because she’s abandoned. Nobody’s minding her,” he said.
Bilodeau explained that if the ship were involved in a collision with another ship, the owners would be responsible, and depending on the type of agreements between the parties, the tug company and the insurers of the tug company and of the ship could also be held liable.
Hunter pointed out that other ships should be able to detect the Lyubov Orlova. If a collision were to occur, the other ship could also assume some responsibility.
According to Transport Canada, as of Feb. 4, the ship was about 680 km northeast of St. John’s.
The Lyubov Orlova, a cruise ship abandoned after numerous attempts to tow it south, is drifting 600 kilometres northeast of St. John’s for ports unknown.
By: Kamila Hinkson News reporter, Published on Sat Feb 09 2013
It could be weeks, months, or even years before a dilapidated, empty cruise ship reaches shore again.
The Lyubov Orlova was a fixture in Port of St. John’s for more than two years before ill-fated attempts began to tow the boat to the Dominican Republic to be scrapped. It is now drifting in the northeast Atlantic Ocean, abandoned by the government and out of the reach of its owners.
The saga began in 2010 when the ship was seized by Canadian authorities as part of a lawsuit between the ship’s Russian owners and the company that operated it.
The first try to get the ship south, on Jan. 24, failed when the tow line snapped. The ship then began drifting toward an offshore oilpatch. Last week, Husky Energy, an oil and gas company, sent a boat out to tow the ship away from the oilpatch.
A private vessel chartered by Transport Canada took over the tow and was to bring the ship to “a Canadian port,” but “due to weather … the operation could not be completed,” according to a Transport Canada spokesman. The cruise ship is now floating in international waters.
Brad deYoung, a professor of oceanography at Memorial University, said the most likely scenario is that the vessel follows the North Atlantic Current east to Ireland. That could happen in a matter of weeks or months.
Winds could also push the ship northwards into the Labrador Sea, where it could potentially remain for years.
“The thing about the ocean currents (is) you’re in one of the most dynamic regions on the planet, where the currents are kind of all going in different directions,” he said. “So if you just move it 50 kilometres in one way or another, you’re in a strong current that’s going in a quite different direction.”
The Canadian Press reported the ship was bought for $275,000 by Hussein Humayuni, an Iranian scrap merchant in a Federal Court process last year. It also reported the ship’s co-owners are Reza Shoeybi and his uncle, Saeed Shoaibi, both of Toronto.
Though the government was involved in the towing operation, the vessel is ultimately the responsibility of its owners, according to two lawyers.
Clay Hunter, partner with Paterson MacDougall, LLP, likened the situation to this: If a car on a hill were to suddenly start accelerating down the hill, and a police officer tried to stop the car but failed, the police officer wouldn’t be held responsible for any damage done by the car.
Jean-François Bilodeau, a maritime lawyer with Robinson Sheppard Shapiro, said under maritime law, because the vessel is abandoned, anyone can go get it.
“It’s a race, basically. The first to grab hold of the ship will be able to claim salvage rights because she’s abandoned. Nobody’s minding her,” he said.
Bilodeau explained that if the ship were involved in a collision with another ship, the owners would be responsible, and depending on the type of agreements between the parties, the tug company and the insurers of the tug company and of the ship could also be held liable.
Hunter pointed out that other ships should be able to detect the Lyubov Orlova. If a collision were to occur, the other ship could also assume some responsibility.
According to Transport Canada, as of Feb. 4, the ship was about 680 km northeast of St. John’s.
