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.
