Update 3: MV Cheshire Reroutes to Iberian Peninsula

Bibby Line’s troubled bulk carrier MV Cheshire, which suffered from overheating in its cargo holds on August 12, will not be heading to Gran Canaria after all.

Instead, the ship, which was put under tow on August 21, has been diverted to a port on the Iberian Peninsula either in Spain or Portugal, the company said in an update.

“Yesterday afternoon the maritime authorities in the Canaries were advised that there was no intention to proceed to any port in the Canary Islands and that the ship would now be towed by the Red Sea Fos to a port on the Iberian Peninsula either in Spain or Portugal,” the company said.

“All parties are working in coordination to seek a port of destination where it will be possible to unload and store the remaining cargo residue at the port, inspect the ship with a view to carrying out repairs. We have been advised that the Canary Islands do not have a facility for the unloading and treatment of the cargo.”

The ship is now en route to the peninsula and is being towed at a speed of 3.5 knots.

The company said it was likely to take approximately 8 days to reach the port of destination. The salvage master, a salvage engineer and two firemen from the Resolve Marine team are on the tug and will accompany the ship to its destination. All the rest of the team are back on shore at this point, the company added.

The salvage team from Resolve Marine has managed to board the ship by helicopter to continue with their inspection of machinery spaces on the ship and to take further samples of the cargo.

“No further gas release has been observed since 25 August and there is no risk of pollution either from bunkers or from the cargo,” according to Bibby Line.