A court has ordered on Dec 3, 2024, that the State can dispose of the'Matthesw' and is no longer obliged to make the ship available for inspections. It was alleged to have been used in one of the largest drugs’ hauls in Irish history and has been costing €100,000 per week to maintain since the ship was seized by the specialist wing of the Irish Defence Forces, the Army Rangers, in Sep 2023. Working with customs agents, they seized 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth an estimated €157 million. Eight men are due to go on trial in 2025 at the Special Criminal Court charged in relation to the haul. The berthing of the alleged drug trafficking ship in Cork had cost the state €4.4 million in the space of 11 months, The presence of the bulk carrier has also caused significant operational problems for the Port of Cork Company (POCC). The ship was formally forfeit to the State on November 19, 2023. The State had maintained the ship to allow access for the defence legal teams.
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MV MAKKUM
The Zr.Ms. 'Makkum' was decommissioned on Nov 25, 2024. The Alkmaar-class minehunter will be ceremonially stripped of its kingdom flag, ensign and war pennant and will eventually be transferred to Ukraine. In March, the Zr.Ms. V'laardingen' (also Alkmaar-class) was decommissioned and now the 'Makkum' is following suit. The reason for this is the arrival of the new Vlissingen-class mine countermeasures vessels. The 'Makkum' is the 12th ship of the Alkmaar-class to be decommissioned. Only the Zr.Ms. 'Schiedam', Zr.Ms. 'Zierikzee' and Zr.Ms 'Willemstad' thus remain in service. Regarding the 'Makkum', first, there will be a period of maintenance, after which a transfer is planned for early 2025. A large part of the future Ukrainian crew has already received their training on board the 'Vlaardingen'. The 'Makkum' has been in service since 1985 and was therefore part of the Dutch Royal Navy for almost 40 years. This makes the Makkum the oldest Dutch naval ship. During that period, the Makkum cleared many explosives and participated in numerous manoevers, and the minehunter also made the news several times. In 2014, the 'Makkum' shadowed the Russian naval vessel RFS 'Kaliningrad' in the North Sea and in 2019, after a fishing trawler sank, the ship found the bodies of two drowned Urk fishermen. In 2023, The Zr.Ms. 'Makkum' participated in the major NATO maritime exercise BALTOPS. After the 'Makkum' was decommissioned, is sister ship 'Schiedam' became the oldest Dutch naval vessel.
