The Marshall Islands-flagged, dwt 300K, Very Large Ore Carrier ‘Stellar Banner’, loaded with iron ore developed heavy starboard side list off the coast of Brazil in Feb 2020 is now refloated
Giant Ore Carrier ‘Stellar Banner’ refloated, following the removal of approximately 145,000 metric tons of iron ore from vessel cargo holds and a couple of thousands of m3 of oil from tanks.
2016 built Stellar Banner, IMO 9726803, managed by Polaris Shipping, Seoul, S. Korea, departed Vale-owned Ponta da Madeira terminal in São Luís, Brazil on February 24, with some 275,000 tons of cargo bound for Qingdao, China.
The ship was chartered by the Brazilian mining company Vale, suffered damage to its bow on Stbd side in the shipping channel as it departed the Ponta da Madeira terminal in São Luís, Brazil on February 24, with some 275,000 tons of cargo bound for Qingdao, China.
According to various experts, water ingress in the cargo hold (s) started listing the vessel and it was grounded to prevent it from sinking.
VLOC’s cargo deck partially came underwater since Feb 25, approx. 111 km from Sao Luis, Brazil.
The removal of cargo helped to brought the vessel to even keel by 12 degrees from its peak list.
After the incident, Vale confirmed the safe evacuation of all 20 crew members from the ship as a precaution.
The vessel has now been towed to deeper waters, about 60 miles from the coast of Maranhão where it will undergo internal tanks inspections.
The cause of the incident is still under investigation by the Brazilian Authorities.
Salvage was carried out by The Dutch salvage firm Ardent Global with help from SMIT Salvage and the Brazilian Navy.
