Vessel Grounding at Kyle of Lochalsh

The Highland Council’s Kyle of Lochalsh Harbour Master John MacRae was informed at 9.50pm and opened an emergency headquarters in the Harbour Office in Kyle where all agencies concerned gathered together including the coastguard, lifeboat and harbour master.

Portree Lifeboat and Kyle in-shore lifeboat services were both in attendance and there were no casualties.

An immediate assessment was undertaken by the Harbour Master following conversation with the captain of the ship who confirmed that there was no pollution following the grounding.

The vessel was in ballast - her cargo tanks were empty and had only 13 tonnes of marine gas oil aboard.

The vessel was monitored between high tide in the evening and low tide in the morning. In the meantime the Anglian Prince (the coastguard tug for the Minch) was mobilised to attend and was on scene at 7.00am today.

The coastguard agency, the Master of the Blackfriars and Harbour Master met on the Blackfriars to agree a plan of action and at 9.18am  the Blackfriars was successfully refloated using the Anglian Prince and the Portree lifeboat. Shortly after the Blackfriars confirmed that they had their own propulsion and were capable of manoeuvring under their own power and then proceeded to anchor in Loch Alsh at Caillich Knoll.

The Blackfriars is now at anchor waiting further decisions from owners and insurers and the Captain has confirmed that there is no water ingress and all cargo tanks are intact.

There has been and there is no pollution risk to date as a result of this incident.

The incident was managed under The Highland Council’s Oil Pollution Contingency Plan, Cascade Procedure.

For further information please contact: John MacRae – Kyle of Lochalsh Harbour Master, The Highland Council TEC Services tel: (01599) 534589