Expedition Cruise Ship Grounds in Norway During Shipyard Return

An expeditionary cruise ship belonging to Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten ran aground and was later refloated in western Norwegian fjord north of Bergen on Friday. The ship, MS Richard With, was not carrying any passengers at the time and all 67 people on board were not harmed in the incident.

Richard With was returning to Bergen from a shipyard maintenance period when the grounding occurred Friday morning on the northern end of Sognefjord due to a “technical system error which led to the ship temporarily losing control,” Hurtigruten said in a statement.

Following the grounding, the Richard With was joined by the Norwegian coastguard-contracted KV Bergen and the anchor handling tug (AHTS) Skandi Iceman belonging to DOF Group. But the was refloated at the next high tide without the assistance of tugs, according to an update at around 5 p.m. CEST.

Hurtigruten said the vessel sustained only minor damage to its bulb and forward ballast tank and no environmental pollution has been reported. She is currently sailing to the shipyard for repairs.

The 67 people on board at the time comprised of 54 crew members and 14 service personnel performing follow-up work following the shipyard stay.

Hurtigruten said it expects to have the ship ready by its next scheduled sailing date on August 20.

NCL Cruise Ship Pulled Free After Grounding

A Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. luxury liner carrying thousands of passengers that ran aground while trying to leave a port in the Dominican Republic on Monday has managed to free itself after hours of being stranded.

The Norwegian Escape hit the channel bed as it was departing Puerto Plata on Monday afternoon, according to a company spokesperson. Tugs had been employed to free it most of the afternoon and evening, according to social media posts. Passengers posted the cruise ship, one of Norwegian Cruise Line’s biggest liners at 1,069 feet, was refloated after midnight, local time. 

Guests and crew were safe, and the ship wasn’t damaged, according to the spokesperson. Operations and services onboard also continued as scheduled.

Passengers on the ship, which originally departed out of Orlando, Florida, said the crew had been trying to extricate the vessel unsuccessfully for several hours into the night. 

Norwegian operates a seven-day Caribbean cruise that departs Florida on Saturdays and stops in Puerto Plata, or Silver Port, for passengers to take a cable-car ride to the peak of Mount Isabel de Torres before setting off for St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Built-in 2015, the Norwegian Escape carries a maximum of 4,266 passengers and 1,733 crew. According to local media reports, it’s currently carrying 3,223 guests and 1,618 crew.(Updates with ship freeing itself in the first paragraph.)

Oanh Ha and Tim Smith , With assistance from Michael Sin. © 2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Cruise Liner Refloated After Running Aground

Norwegian Dawn

A Norwegian Cruise Line ship with more than 3,500 people on board has had to be refloated after running aground near Bermuda.

The Norwegian Dawn was returning to Boston with 2,443 passengers and more than 1,059 crew.

It is believed to have temporarily lost power after leaving port.

The Norwegian Dawn struck the sea bed when leaving Bermuda

A spokesman for Norwegian Cruise Lines said: "The ship's propulsion was affected and, at which time, the vessel made contact with the channel bed."

However, the vessel has now been refloated after high tide.

A spokesman for the cruise line said the boat would remain anchored off Bermuda overnight.

Experts will inspect it on Thursday before it returns to Boston.

It was unclear whether the passengers would disembark before the 92,000-ton vessel, which is nearly 1,000ft long, heads back to Boston.

Costa Concordia to be re-floated in two weeks

By Phil Davies 

The wreck of the Costa Concordia is due to be refloated in the next two weeks in the latest stage of the most expensive ship recovery operation in history.

The salvage could involve a semi-submersible boat effectively carrying the ship from its resting place off the Italian island of Giglio to Genoa to be dismantled.

Costs to insurers have spiralled to almost £1.2 billion because wrecks are usually cut into pieces and carried away. But Italian authorities have decided that such a move would risk an environmentally sensitive stretch of coastline so the ship is being removed in one piece.

Captain Rahul Kanna, a ship insurance specialist at insurer Allianz told the Mail in Sunday: “The primary reason for the cost is the method of removal. It sets a very dangerous precedent.”

Costa Concordia hit rocks in January 2012 killing 32 people.

The ship was turned upright last September after salvage contractors reinforced the seabed beneath it.

Modern shipping is creating the possibility for much bigger losses as ships grow in size and start to use remote Arctic shipping lanes, insurers are warning.

“Any losses in the Arctic would be a logistic nightmare to arrange rescue and salvage,” Kenna was reported as saying.

Concordia to be refloated by June

By Hollie-Rae Merrick 

The shipwrecked Costa Concordia could be re-floated by June, the engineer overseeing the salvage operation has said.

Franco Porcellacchia has reportedly told the residents of the Italian island of Giglio that giant floats will be fixed on to the sides of the ship by April, allowing the ship to float again.

Porcellacchia said he was “extremely confident” about the operation according to Zee News.

After re-floating the ship it will be towed to a nearby port were it will be scrapped. No decision has been made on which port it is taken too.

The Costa Concordia ran aground and partially sank in January 2012 with the loss of 32 lives.

In October the bodies of the two remaining missing victims were found by divers searching the ship.