European gateway
 The European Gateway after the recovery
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The European Gateway was a RoRo cargo and ferry ship. She sank on December 19, 1982 after a collision in the English Channel. The ship was raised again and was in service until 2013.
history
Construction and first years
The ferry was launched on December 20, 1974 as European Express with construction number 2256 at Schichau Unterweser AG (SUAG) and delivered to the British shipping company Townsend Car Ferries Ltd., Dover on June 4, 1975 as European Gateway . The cargo ferry was part of a series of four. The sister ships were: European Clearway , European Enterprise and European Trader .
From June 9th, the European Gateway was used for around five years in the Townsend Thoresen ferry service between Felixstowe and Europort before it operated for a few months between Cairnryan and Larne. In September 1980 the Amsterdamsche Droogdok shipyard extended Mij. the ship by 15.7 meters. The ferry then returned to the Cairnryan-Larne route for a short time, only to travel mainly between Felixstowe and Europort from November 1980.
Collision and rescue
On Sunday evening, December 19, 1982, the European Gateway left the port of Felixstowe for Zeebrugge. There were 76 crew and passengers on board, as well as trucks and trailers. About two to three nautical miles from the port of Harwich , the ship collided with the Speedlink Vanguard after a misunderstanding between the two ship's command . The European Gateway was hit about amidships on her starboard side and began to heel quickly due to the strong water ingress and the resulting free surfaces on the vehicle decks . Despite the attempt by the ship's command to aground the ship in shallow water, the European Gateway capsized about ten minutes after the collision. The ship lay with its starboard side on a sandbank and about halfway out of the water. In the following rescue operation, 35 crew members and 35 drivers of the loaded trucks were rescued by two Trinity House pilot boats and a lifeboat from the Speedlink Vanguard . At the time of the collision, the Dana Futura , only about one nautical mile away , supported the rescue operation by using its lighting. Nevertheless, six people could only be recovered dead later, one person remained missing.
Recovery and follow-up
After the shipping company had signed a recovery contract in accordance with Lloyd's Open Form with the Dutch recovery company Wijsmuller on December 24, 1982 , the semi-submersible heavy lift Super Servant 3 with a crane barge and other auxiliary vehicles arrived at the collision site of the European Gateway on January 11, 1983 . The erection of the ship began on January 31, 1983 and was delayed by obstacles such as bad weather, which caused great damage to the semi-erected ship. After the second erection attempt, a large steel part prefabricated in Felixstowe was welded onto the largest collision hole measuring 15 by 5 meters and the wreck was finally lifted on February 26, 1983. After the uplift, Harwich Port Authorities demanded $ 100 million from Wijsmuller's liability for bringing the wreck to nearby Harwich. The lifted ferry was then towed by the salvage tug Titan to the more distant IJmuiden and was in Amsterdam from March 30th. After Wijsmuller had invested around one million dollars in salvaging the ship, the ship insurance company declared European Gateway a total insurance loss. On May 3, 1983, the Clorinda Navigation Company from Limassol bought the wreck and, after extensive repairs and renovations at the Greek Perama shipyard, brought it back on the road as Flavia .
Later career
In August 1984 the Flavia started its service between Ancona, Igoumenitsa and Patras for the shipping company Anco Ferries. After the bankruptcy of the shipping company and a layover period in 1987, the ship was sold to GT-Link in Nassau in June 1987, who had the ship converted as Travemünde Link I for the Swedish shipping company Sea Link in Nakskov near Nakskov Skipsværft. On November 27, 1988, the ferry began operating as Travemünde Link on the Gedser-Travemünde route, where it remained until December 1990. It was not until 1992 that the shipping company RL Shipping Ltd from Douglas on the Isle of Man bought the ship and used it as a Rostock Link on routes between Gedser and Rostock or Gedser and Travemünde until 1996 . On February 16, 1992, the ship ran into a sandbank near Gedser.
The next shipping companies were, in a short change, Säljs Europa Linie, DSB Rederi A / S and Scandlines. On February 5, 1997, the ship ran again on a sandbank. About a year later the ship in Nakskov was launched in order in May 1998 for a Amberline of Scandlines Baltic between Aarhus and Liepaja to operate. In 1999, Bladt Industries converted the ship in Aalborg , which from June 14th until the end of the same year was chartered by Mols Linien A / S under the charter name Kalundborg Link between Aarhus and Kalundborg.
File: Penelope (ship, 1975) .jpg
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In 2000 the Okeanos bought Naf. Trading SA, Nassau, to use it from March 2000 as Penelope A. for the Greek Agoudimos Lines between Igoumenitsa and Brindisi . From July 2005 the ship will be operated as Penelope between the Greek islands, initially under the flag of Greece and later under the flag of Cyprus. In 2013 the ship was broken up as Lopi in Aliaga (Turkey).
literature
- AJ Ambrose: The Salving of European Gateway . In: AJ Ambrose (Ed.): Jane's Merchant Shipping Review . Jane's Publishing Company, London 1984, ISBN 0-7106-0302-9 , pp. 35-40 .
Web links
- Online edition number 29 of the Waterfront (English, pp. 14-15)
- Entry at faktaomfartyg (Swedish)
- Harwich Lifeboat Station site
Individual evidence
- ↑ M / S EUROPEAN GATEWAY. Retrieved August 30, 2014 .