Navy decides to deal with Stellar Banner shipwreck by sinking it

The Brazilian Navy, via Command of the 4th Naval District (Com4ºDN), determined that the ship Stellar Banner, which ran aground in February of this year in Maranhão will be sunk in deep waters, about 150 km from the coast of Maranhão. The decision was made after the agency analyzed reports from Polaris Shipping, responsible for the merchant vessel.

According to the Navy before sinking the ship, teams specialized in this type of operation are still removing what is left of the oil in the Stellar Banner. The Navy guaranteed that “the part of the cargo which will remain on the ship, does not pose risks to marine or human life and must remain in agreement with the environmental and maritime authorities”.

According to the note, AHTS (Anchor Handling Tug Supply) Bear, OSRV (Oil Spill Response Vessel) Marine Water, OSV (Offshore Support Vessel) Normand Installer and Patrol Ship “Guanabara” will remain on the scene to monitor the entire sinking process of the vessel in order to avoid possible environmental impacts.

On Thursday, June 4th, the Stellar Banner was towed from where it was stranded and started to be taken into deeper waters, about 111 km from São Luís.  Previous to this, on April 12th, approximately 145,000 tons of iron ore and 3.9 million cubic meters of oil were removed from the Stellar Banner.

The vessel, which was used by Vale, suffered two cracks in the hull on February 25th, shortly after leaving the Ponta da Madeira Port Terminal in São Luís, bound for a buyer in Qingdao, China. The vessel has a capacity for 300,000 tons of iron ore.

Source: G1

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