Report on ghost ships still not ready three years after MV Alta washed up in East Cork
The MV Alta washed up off the East Cork coast in February 2020. Picture Denis Minihane
A report into what to do with ghost ships that enter Irish waters is still not complete, three years after an abandoned vessel washed up on the East Cork coast.
The Department of Transport said a working group, including the Irish Coast Guard, the Naval Service, Irish Lights, the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority and others, has concluded deliberations. However, it will do one more round of stakeholder engagement before presenting its findings.
The group, which was established in June last year on the recommendation of a Marine Casualty Investigation Board, examined "the risks and potential costs to the State presented by derelict ships" entering Irish territorial waters and coming ashore.
It was set up in the wake of the grounding of the MV Alta, which washed onto rocks near Ballycotton in East Cork after Storm Dennis struck Ireland in February 2020, becoming a magnet for antisocial behaviour.
A report by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board said it had drifted more than 2,300 nautical miles for almost 500 days before it was shipwrecked.
The ship, built in 1976, had originally been on course from Greece to Haiti in the Caribbean Sea in October 2018, before engines failed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
While the US Coast Guard rescued the crew more than 2,000km off Bermuda, the ship was abandoned, drifting until it came to its final stop in Cork.
Since then, authorities have struggled to deal with the remnants of the ghost ship, because its owners cannot be identified, and a multi-million euro bill will apply for its removal.
Successive storms Dudley, Eunice, and Franklin, culminated in the 80m 44-year-old cargo vessel splitting, while in January of last year, a near-miss incident involving the MV Alta and a massive oil tanker occurred.
Last summer saw a number of fires break out around the area, including one in August that led to firefighting personnel from nearby Midleton and Youghal being joined by local farmers to put out the blaze, and some residents compelled to leave their homes as a precaution.
A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said the Coast Guard is working with the European Maritime Safety Agency "in evaluating satellite based options for identifying potential risks".
It would mean being able to hone in on ships like the MV Alta that have ceased to transmit any electronic signature.
"Following the completion of a health and safety assessment, a set of interventions to address public safety concerns in the vicinity of the wreck have been identified," the spokesperson said.
These works will be completed this year, she said.
The lack of a concrete plan to deal with the MV Alta has been heavily criticised since the ship washed up three years ago.
Cork East TD Seán Sherlock has consistently called for the ship to be dismantled and removed, claiming it is being "passed from pillar to post" as authorities decide what to do with it.
The MV Alta is a continuous dangerous presence on the Cork coastline yet still has not been dealt with, he said last summer.
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