Cargo ship under tow
THE COASTGUARD’S tug Herakles is towing a large cargo ship with 13 crew on board towards Lerwick harbour after the 8,000 tonne vessel broke down 160 miles north west of Shetland.
The Industrial Kennedy was on its way from Gibraltar to Orkanger in Norway with a load of steel pipes when problems with its turbocharger forced it to shut down its engines and call for assistance at 4.45am on Thursday.
Herakles arrived on scene 24 hours later after being dispatched from Kirkwall and within one hour and a half it had attached a tow line and started heading towards land.
After the harbour master at Scrabster declined the vessel a berth, the coastguard tug shifted direction and headed for Lerwick where she is expected to arrive at 6am on Saturday morning for repairs to be carried out.
The sea was rough at the time of the breakdown with a six metre swell and gale force north westerly winds, that have since started to ease.
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