For the past several days a derelict Russian cruise ship with a fancy name has been floating unimpeded off the coast of Newfoundland after a failed attempt to tow the vessel out of Canada was just kind of abandoned.

Understandably there has been some concern about what comes next for the floating eyesore, but less action.

According to the Canadian Press, the Lyubov Orlova is currently floating about 270 kilometres off the shore of St. John's in the vicinity of the Hibernia offshore oil platform.

Officials say the vessel is not expected to get any closer to the oil platform. Then again, it is also not supposed to be floating aimlessly through the ocean. But alas.

According to Transport Canada, the boat really isn't getting in anyone's way, and it isn't leaking pollutants or causing much a fuss. So for now it is best just to pretend it's not there.

How can this solution be considered flawed? After all, it is the same strategy that keeps us out of awkward conversations with overly friendly strangers.

Let's just ignore it and maybe it will go away.

According to The Telegram, The Lyubov Orlova has been adrift since last week when a towline snapped as it was pulled out of harbour en route to the Dominican Republic to be sold for scraps.

That tugboat has since been called back to St. John's due to safety concerns.

The Lyubov Orlova has a fascinating history. The cruise ship was named after an early-1900s Russian actress and was saved by a Spanish icebreaker in 2006 after crashing in Antarctica. It more recently operated as an Alaskan cruise ship until 2010.

According to a handy backgrounder posted on the ship-watching blog, Tugfax, the Lyubov Orlova was seized in 2010 for debts to Canadian charterers. The owners skipped town without paying its Russian and Ukrainian crew members, who were left stranded in Canada until they were eventually repatriated.

Blogger Mac Mackay writes:

In January 2012 the ship was sold in Federal Court to an owner based in the British Virgin Islands.

Part of Transport Canada’s hesitancy to get involved with the Lyubov Orlova is contained within that story: jurisdiction. They finally got rid of the damn thing; it’s up to the new owner to take if from there.

The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is sending a team to St. John's to investigate the never-ending saga of the derelict cruise ship Lyubov Orlova.

Specifically, the TSB will investigate how the rusting vessel broke free from a tugboat on Jan. 23 and went adrift in the North Atlantic.

On Wednesday, Husky Energy had to send the offshore supply ship Atlantic Hawk to tow the Orlova away from oil installations. The vessels are still travelling north in the direction of prevailing wind and weather.
Destination unknown

Meanwhile, Transport Canada has commissioned the Maersk Challenger to take over the tow from the Atlantic Hawk.

There's still no word on where the Orlova will end up, but the St. John's Port Authority has issued a warning, telling Transport Canada it will not allow the ship to berth at any of its facilities.

"It's an environmental risk to the port, the environment in general, our other vessel users that are in the port," said Sean Hanrahan, the president and CEO of the port authority.

"Secondly of all, an operational nigthmare. We can't operate a port around a vessel of such size when we've got such demand for our berthage. And third of all is the financial aspect of it all. Nobody's paying the bills, and we simply can't take on that loss all over again."

Hanrahan said the bill for the 2.5 years the Orlova spent tied up at the St. John's waterfront is about $200,000.

But the Canadian Authorities now have the 'problem' of the tug, which by all accounts was completely un-seaworthy and should probably not have been permitted to leave port at the outset, let alone towing; read here.

I suppose a tug is easier to hide and can be set adrift by accident

Pam

[ 02-26-2013: Message edited by: PamM ]

Much farther North than the wreck of the Titanic.

Thanks for the links Pam.

[ 02-27-2013: Message edited by: FuzzyFish ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by SSTRAVELER:
Images of rats lounging on deck chairs and playing shuffle board!

---

I can just wait for the postcards to start arriving: