Pollution response continues on wood chip carrier Crimson Polaris

Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) has confirmed that the clean-up effort is still ongoing to recover the oil and cargo that had spilled into the waters off Japan’s Aomori prefecture as a result of the grounding of the wood chip carrier Crimson Polaris earlier this month.

Under the guidance of the local Maritime Disaster Prevention Centre, the clean-up contractor arranged by shipowner MI-DAS Line has continued the recovery of oil and cargo that had drifted and ended up on the shoreline off Hachinohe following the vessel’s grounding on August 11 and its breaking into two the following day.

NYK said that as the charterer of the vessel, it has despatched company personnel to the site to assist with the clean-up effort.

NYK has also organised a crisis management centre led by company president Hitoshi Nagasawa to rapidly address the situation. Company personnel have been sent to the site to provide support to the shipowners and the shipmanagement company.

The Panamanian-flagged Crimson Polaris was at anchor off Hachinohe when it was rocked by strong winds, causing it to drift until its hull made bottom contact on a shallow area four kilometres off the coast on August 11.

The grounding caused a hull breach that eventually worsened, and the ship split into two pieces on the morning (local time) of August 12. This also caused the ship’s oil and some of its cargo to spill into the sea.

No injuries have been reported among the ship’s 21-strong crew, who were all safely rescued in the hours following the grounding.