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Ship Carrying Icelandic Whale Meat Arrives in Japan

The cargo ship Alma carrying 2,000 tons of fin whale meat from Iceland arrived at its final destination, Osaka, Japan, this morning. The ship left Hafnarfjörður port, West Iceland, on March 20. It is not known how the ship got fuel or supplies along the way but it is thought that it stopped at Port Louis in Mauritius, ruv.is reports. The ship had planned to refuel at the port of Durban, South Africa, but skipped the port in light of protests over the ship’s whale meat cargo. Greenpeace asked the South African government not to accept the ship and to put pressure on other African port cities to do the same. Twenty-one thousand people signed a petition joining Greenpeace in its demands.

Alma released

The "Alma" has been grounded in the harbor of Fáskrúðsfjörður, east Iceland, since early November. Now it is free to leave and the cargo is being transshipped. The "Alma" was towed to Fáskrúðsfjörður on Nov 9, 2011, after the vessel’s steering wheel fell off in the mouth of Hornafjörður, southeast Iceland, and was barred from leaving until the operator had provided collateral to cover the cost of rescue. An agreement has now been reached on collateral and "Alma"’s sister ship, "Green Lofoten", will progress with its cargo to St. Petersburg after the unshipping was completed on Nov 24. The "Alma" will be sent to a shipyard to repair the steering gear but it hasn’t been decided where it will take place.

Rescue cost cover demanded

The fish processing company Lodnuvinnslan in Fáskrúdsfjördur and the municipality Hornafjördur in east Iceland demand collateral of up to 3.9 million Euro from the operator of the "Alma" to cover the cost of its rescue. At the order of the District Commissioner in Eskifjördur, the ship is barred from leaving the harbor in Fáskrúdsfjördur to where it was towed. Its sister ship, the "Green Lofoten", arrived in Fáskrúdsfjördur on Nov 9 in the evening to take over the cargo, 3,000 tons of frozen seafood products, but the cargo has been grounded along with the ship. The fee requested amounts to a quarter of the combined value of the ship and its cargo and should be paid to those who participated in the ship’s rescue. The commercial agent of "Alma"’s operator assumes that collateral will be submitted in the coming days and that the grounding will then be lifted. However, the final amount has yet to be determined.