Ships in the Sound

The last 'Ships in the Sound' was posted on Christmas Eve, and since then the Sound of Mull has been remarkably empty of shipping.  One explanation may be that the last days of the old year were stormy, but things haven't picked up much during the finer weather in January.

This picture shows the Fure Sun passing in stormy weather on the 30th December.  There were times when she was moving, and times when she seemed stationary - the AIS plot described her as 'moored' and doing six knots alternately.  She's a 'Hazard A' tanker, which means she carries dangerous cargoes such as petroleum spirits, a type of ship which we don't often see.  So either she was routed through the Sound to avoid the worst of the weather, or she was in some sort of difficulty, or the crew had started their new year celebrations early.

This is exactly the sort of ship we really don't want in these confined waters, even though she's in ballast.  The Coastguard tug which used to be stationed off NW Scotland has been removed, so if something untoward did happen to one of these ships we would have to sit and watch her go ashore.

The Dutch cargo vessel BBS Star has been in a bit of trouble recently. She suffered a rudder failure in the Kiel Canal on 29th August and hit another Dutch ship, the heavy-lift Snoekgracht. The BBS Star suffered hull damage portside with resulting water ingress, and was directed to Brunsbuettel to offloading a cargo of grain destined for Avonmouth.  Happily, she passed us without incident.

She's described as a 'dry cargo ship', 3,211t dwt, and was built in 1999.  Some photographs (eg: here) show her with her old name of Arklow Star, and the colour of her hull is typical of other Arklow ships we've seen going through the Sound.

The Cemluna passed us on the last day of 2012.  She's a 3,828t dwt cement carrier registered in Cyprus.  What look like white containers loaded amidships are part of the ship, perhaps related to her pneumatic loading and selfdischarging equipment - her description (.pdf file here) suggests that she loads and unloads by blowing the cement into and out of her two holds.

This is the Cameron, on her way to Kyle.  The Briggs Marine company website (here) describes her as a "trials support vessel in open anchorage in UK waters and as mooring vessel, transporting laying and recovery moorings, servicing mooring buoys and operating with an attendant diving team in UK harbours and estuaries".  We've seen Briggs Marine vessels often before, a Scottish company which registers their vessels in the UK, and is based in Burntisland, Fife.  It's a company which, judging by their smart appearance, takes a pride in its ships.

In contrast to the stormy conditions the Fure Sun enjoyed at the beginning of the past month, the Yeoman Bontrup passed down the Sound on 23rd January in winter weather, on her way to the superquarry at Glensanda.  We haven't seen any of these large bulk carriers over the last few weeks, so either they have been working elsewhere, or the crews have had a long holiday.

On a related matter, The Diary has been using the http://www.shipais.com/ website to identify passing ships, but an alternative, the http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/, has been recommended by Alasdair Hughson - see Diary post here.  It certainly seems to offer improved features.