Lomar concedes brand new boxship aground off New Caledonia will have to be scrapped
Lomar Shipping has conceded that its brand new 2,194 teu Kea Trader boxship will have to be scrapped. The vessel, delivered from a yard in China earlier this year, ran aground on a reef off New Caledonia nearly in July. Buffeted by fierce weather the ship’s structural condition has since deteriorated dramatically.
boxship will have to be scrapped. The vessel, delivered from a yard in China earlier this year, “[A]s a result of the vessel’s continuing deterioration, the company has regrettably had to agree with its H&M insurer that the vessel cannot be repaired and will need to be recycled,” Lomar stated in a release.
More than two-thirds of the 756 containers onboard have now been removed from the Kea Trader. Most were removed by a specialist Sikorsky Skycrane heavy lift helicopter, which has since been demobilised and left site.
Salvage firm Ardent has been progressing multiple plans for re-floating the Kea Trader from the Durand Reefs. However, continued poor winter weather conditions had slowed this work during September, with a significant storm in the South Pacific resulting in crew and the majority of salvage workers being taken off the vessel as a precaution for a second time since its grounding.
