A damaged Russian cargo ship packed with 20,000 tonnes of explosive material has been allowed to dock at a British port after weeks moored off the coast.
The vessel, called Ruby but nicknamed the ‘floating bomb’ for its deadly cargo, is carrying seven times the amount of explosives that devastated Beirut in 2020.
It was anchored off the coast of Margate, Kent, for weeks amid fears it was too deadly to pass through the busy Channel crossing.
The huge ship, which had previously been turned away from ports in several other countries amid safety fears, is now moored near Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk.
It is alongside a facility in Gorleston-on-Sea, with the ship now based just a few hundred metres away from a housing estate, primary school and sixth form college.
Pictured is the Russian ‘floating bomb’ cargo ship which is currently docked near Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk
Pictured is the ship’s current location, according to the global ship tracking website Marine Traffic, after travelling north from near Margate, in Kent.
Walkers on the beach in the Norfolk seaside resort have since expressed concern about the arrival of the MV Ruby.
Port officials in Great Yarmouth offered the controversial vessel a berth after she spent more than a month anchored 15 miles off the Kent coast.
Fears had been expressed about the risks posed by the ship’s cargo of ammonium nitrate which can be a deadly explosive under certain conditions.
The MV Ruby is carrying seven times more ammonium nitrate than the 2,750 tonnes of the fertiliser which exploded in the Port of Beirut in Lebanon, killing 218 people, in 2020.
The blast in Beirut which was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history is said to have happened because the fertiliser was not properly stored.
But the operators of Great Yarmouth port insisted today that the ship had been berthed under ‘the strictest safety conditions’.
The Maltese-registered vessel left the Russian port of Kandalaksha with its cargo in late August, but then ran aground and damaged its propellor, rudder and hull.
The ship called at the Norwegian port of Tromso for repairs in early September, but was forced to leave after media speculation over risks posed by her cargo.
Residents of Tromso had become increasingly concerned as the ship was anchored near a university campus, a hospital, and hundreds of homes.
The MV Ruby was also turned away from a repair yard in Lithuania, and ultimately wound up waiting at anchor in the English Channel.
While in Great Yarmouth, she will have her cargo transferred to another vessel so she is able to be repaired in an unspecified dry dock.
The second ship will then take the cargo to its final destination which is thought to be in Africa.
The MV Ruby is carrying seven times more ammonium nitrate than the 2,750 tonnes of the fertiliser which exploded in the Port of Beirut in Lebanon, killing 218 people, in 2020.
The ship is now docked at a facility just north of Gorleston-on-Sea and is a few hundred metres from residential housing, a sixth form college and primary school
The MV Ruby has been able to dock in Great Yarmouth without breaking sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine war because she is not Russian-owned.
Ammonium nitrate is also not believed to be subject to sanctions.
But locals in Great Yarmouth said they were fearful about ship which has brought back memories about the detonation of a 250kg World War Two bomb in the town.
Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes after the unexploded German bomb was unearthed during building work for a new bridge in February last year.
The bomb dramatically blew up three days later during an attempt to disarm it, creating a giant blast which shook homes and was heard up to ten miles away.
Health worker Shari Wharton, 61, said: ‘It’s not good dumping all this rubbish on Great Yarmouth. I would rather it wasn’t here.
‘My house was rocked when we had the big bomb go off a couple of months after I moved here two-years-ago. Now we have got to put up with this ship which nobody else wants.’
Mia Atkinson, 28, of Great Yarmouth who was on the beach next to the town’s port with her children Riley, ten, and Lexi-May, nine, said: ‘This ship is a little bit concerning.
Pictured is the Russian cargo ship MV Ruby which is docked near Great Yarmouth
Warning signs have been pictured today close to where the ship is moored
And local residents have expressed their concerns at having the vessel docked near them (pictured is a security car at the port where the ship is alongside
‘I walk up and down here every day. I understand that this is an industrial area and some places use chemicals, but this is a ridiculous amount.
‘There are loads of holidaymakers on the beach here when the weather is nice and they should not be exposed to this.’
Jackie Shales, 76, of nearby Lowestoft who was beachcombing on Great Yarmouth beach with her husband Keith, 78, added: ‘It is a bit worrying.
‘It sounds like a floating timebomb which could go off at anytime. It is all very well saying the ship is safe, but how come other countries have turned it away?
‘We seem to accept all sorts of things that nobody else wants. But it won’t put me off from coming here. I am too old to care.’
A spokesperson for Serenity Ship Management which manages MV Ruby said it had reached an agreement with Peel Ports Group to accept the ship in Great Yarmouth ‘to complete a transhipment of the vessel’s cargo of ammonium nitrate’.
The firm added: ‘The vessel’s cargo poses no risk to the surrounding area in its present state.
‘The owners and managers of the Ruby would like to take this opportunity to thank the UK authorities for their support throughout the vessel’s stay in UK territorial waters, while we express gratitude to Peel Ports Group for accommodating our request to complete a transhipment at Great Yarmouth.’
Sir Roger Gale, MP for Herne Bay and Sandwich, said the cargo was safe following his meeting with shipping minister, Mike Kane earlier this month.
‘I am advised that the cargo, originally destined for Africa, of class 2 ammonium nitrate is safe,’ he wrote on X.
The ship, nicknamed the Ruby (pictured above), is carrying seven times the amount of explosives that devastated Beirut in 2020 has docked near Great Yarmouth in Norfolk
(Pictured: The devastation in Lebanon in 2020) The Ruby has seven times more of ammonium nitrate than found in this disaster, which killed 218 people
‘Due to damage to the ship which has not rendered the vessel unseaworthy but requires repair [and] negotiations are ongoing to unload the cargo.’
He also added: ‘[I] am led to believe that the legal situation is that because the ship itself is neither Russian owned nor flagged no international law has been broken or sanctions breached.’
Ruby’s cargo, ammonium nitrate, is a common ingredient used in fertilizer.
When stored correctly, the compound is relatively safe. However, if contained in a large pile incorrectly, it can be potentially explosive.
Professor Geoffrey Maitland, a chemical engineering expert at Imperial College London said: ‘If kept isolated and unconfined, it is quite stable… However, if it comes into contact with an intense source of heat and ignition, such as a detonator or an intense fire for some time, and is present as a large bulk mass and in a confined space, such as a warehouse, then it can explode.’
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