Ship holding 20,000 tonnes of potentially explosive fertiliser to leave Great Yarmouth
The damaged MV Ruby ship docked there last month after being denied entry to other countries.
Last updated 26th Nov 2024
A damaged ship holding nearly 20,000 tonnes of potentially explosive fertiliser in Great Yarmouth is to head out to sea again later this week.
It's currently docked in the Norfolk port, laden with a cargo that could be explosive, but it's now emerged the stricken vessel is due to leave on Friday.
MV Ruby, a container vessel carrying 20,000 tonnes of fertiliser, is scheduled to embark from Great Yarmouth port later this week.
Its departure will come 33 days after its controversial arrival on October 28th.
The ship, which had sailed from Russia and was heading to Africa, suffered damage in a storm.
On board was more than seven times the amount of ammonium nitrate involved in a blast in Beirut in 2020 which killed 218 people and injured a further 7,000.
This prompted authorities in Sweden and Lithuania to deny it entry into their territorial waters.
The fate of the ship has been unclear, with many in the Yarmouth saying it should never have been allowed to dock and should leave as soon as possible.
Last week, the ship briefly sailed from Yarmouth’s outer harbour to around 20 miles off the coast to dump around 300 tonnes of its cargo in the North Sea, which had become contaminated with fuel oil and seawater.
It then returned to shore- it's now scheduled to leave again on Friday at 6pm.
Its destination is not currently known, prompting speculation it could return once again.
But according to Peel Ports’– the firm that manages Great Yarmouth Port– arrivals and departure board, it does not intend to return.
Deputy Leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council, Graham Plant told us: "The risk, as far as I'm concerned, for the people of Great Yarmouth, is to great and it needn't be there.
"It's degraded- it needs to be out of our port and away from human habitation.
"I'm concerned, seriously concerned that it's still sat in our harbour- it shouldn't be in any harbour.
"What I'd like to see is that ship leave as soon as possible.
"When they took it out to sea last time, it should have stayed there, and shouldn't have come into a populated area like Great Yarmouth."
Ruby Enterprise, the Maltese-registered company that owns the ship, did not respond to a request for comment on its movements.
The MV Ruby’s 20,000 tonnes of cargo is being transferred to another ship, the Zimrida.
This is necessary for the ship to undergo repairs and she is expected to sail to another British port for these to be completed
It follows the hull being damaged when it ran aground in bad weather after leaving the north Russian port of Kandalaksha back in July.