Beriks is a small 54.23m-long, 602gt cargo vessel that has
only carried this name since it was completed on June 29,
1973, by the Yaroslavskiy yard at Yaroslavl, Russia.
But in recent months, the Ukrainian-flag vessel, owned by
Interfish-Biotech Ltd, has been dubbed the "stinky ship".
The single-hold vessel left the Georgian port of Poti in
December last year bound for Turkey. Its cargo, about 230
tonnes of pork and poultry, had been procured from China and
Brazil.
But shortly after setting out on the voyage the refrigeration
units broke down and the cargo started to rot.
As time went by the plight of the vessel worsened and the
crew of 12 were trapped inside the vessel by the
foul-smelling cargo.
Consequently because of this situation, port authorities
refused Beriks permission to enter their harbours.
The vessel was also told to stay 20 kilometres off the
Crimean coast.
So the vessel was forced to anchor in the Kerch Strait
between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
In April the Ukrainian port of Kerchensky allowed the vessel
to enter port only to have repairs carried out and to take on
supplies. Last Friday week, permission was given for Beriks
to berth at the Odessa ship repair yard for vital work to be
carried out to allow the vessel to return to service.
But there was no mention of the rotten cargo. I mentioned
recently that the container ship that called under the names
MSC Jessica and Columbus Olivos was beached at Alang, India
on June 6 for demolition at Plot 24.
However, last Tuesday tragedy struck after a fire broke out
in the vessel's engine room.
It quickly produced a great deal of choking smoke and claimed
the lives of six workers who were trapped in this area.
Also sold for breaking up at Alang is the chartered vessel
MSC Togo.
Since 2005 the ship has traded under that name and also as
Maersk Vungtau and Vungtau.
Earlier in its career the 30,175gt, 1548TEU vessel called
here following the Anglo-Dutch merger in 1997 that produced
P&O Nedlloyd. This also led to the adoption of a new
naming system for existing units of the combined fleet as
well as new ships on order.
MSC Togo was ordered from the Van de Geissen de Noord yard at
Krimpen aan den IJssel, in South Holland, by KNSM of
Amsterdam.
Launched as Zeelandia on March 17,1980, the ship was
completed in September 1980 but under the name Benattow.
Renamed Nedlloyd Zeelandia in 1982, then Java Winds the
following year, the ship went back to its launching name in
1984.
Two years later it was once again trading as Nedlloyd
Zeelandia.
The ship retained this name until 1998 and following the
integration of the fleets, it started to call here. Nedlloyd
Zeelandia made four visits to Port Chalmers from November 26,
1997, to August 23, 1998.
After being renamed P&O Nedlloyd Los Angeles later that
year, it made one return visit on October 20, 1999.
It subsequently became part of the Maersk Line fleet when the
Danish giant acquired the P&O Nedlloyd interests four
years ago.
