Barge sinks in Hamburg with 3,500 litres of diesel on board

The alarm was raised early yesterday morning, 6 February, when the inland barge Alster was moored alongside the Kalikai terminal in Hamburg overnight. It has been reported that the two crew members on the 80m long vessel managed to get clear and on to the quay before the barge sank while still alongside around an hour after it started listing. They are not thought to be injured other than suffering from shock.

Alster was moored at a busy terminal that handles potash fertilizer and salt products, and she was loaded with 1,400 tons of potassium chloride, also described as potash salt. The vessel was reported to be carrying around 3,500 litres of diesel.

Local media reported around 40 shore-based firefighters responded to the incident along with emergency response vessels from Hamburg Port Authority, and while initially the risk of damage to the environment from the vessel’s cargo was unclear, the fuel oil on board obviously presented an environmental risk.

A containment boom was deployed around the vessel with a spokeswoman for the environmental authority reported as saying: “Diesel spilled into the water. Around 5,000 square metres of water were contaminated, there are now 350m of solid barriers designed to prevent further expansion of the contamination.”

Pollution prevention measures also included absorbent ‘sponges’ to contain pollution, although it was also reported that an oil film had formed outside the containment boom.

While potassium chloride is a harmless, water-soluble substance it was reported that the environmental group Greenpeace had attended and raised concern that any of the cargo that escaped into the surrounding waterway would raise the salinity of the Elbe with consequential damage to organisms in the river.

Later in the day and with the situation stabilised, the attention turned to plans to salvage the vessel with Hamburg Port Authority, the vessel’s owner and specialist salvage contractors.

A recovery operation is expected to take a few days. At the time of writing, no official response had been given by the port.