Tugboat skipper faces intoxication charge after grounded feed barge sinks

The captain of a tugboat has been charged with possible intoxication after his vessel and the salmon farm feed barge that it was towing hit a reef in Norway last night.

Police were notified of the accident at 23:18 yesterday. All five crew – four on the boat, Waterlord, and one on the barge - were rescued within half an hour, Helge Blindheim, operations manager at the West police district, told news outlet VG.

At 04:46 the police reported that the barge had sunk. At 05:30 the tug was taken under tow, on its way to Måløy. Fish Farming Expert’s Norwegian sister site, Kyst.no, said the barge was understood to be a new one made for salmon farmer Måsøval by ScaleAQ.

Influence of alcohol

It is unclear why the boat hit a reef, but one person in the crew is suspected of having been under the influence of alcohol.

“The crew has not explained themselves, but breathalysers were taken from everyone, and one passed out. A blood test has also been taken from the person concerned, and this was positive (for alcohol),” Blindheim told newspaper Bergens Tidende.

Police prosecutor Kjetil Linge Tomren confirmed to the newspaper that the captain has been charged with possible drink driving of the boat.

Tip-off

After the case became known in the media, Kyst was contacted by an anonymous tipster.

The person had noticed that one of Måsøval’s feed barges was docked for several days. When he saw in the morning that the barge was gone and heard in the media that a towboat had run aground with a barge, he checked the Marine Traffic website.

“I saw that the feed barge was at the quay for a couple of days, presumably waiting for the weather, I followed the track from the tugboat. They knew that the tugboat was at the quay where the feed barge was and then drove at 2-3 knots to where the incident occurred.”

This is our barge

Måsøval’s head of communications and public relations, Berit Flåmo, confirmed this to Kyst.no.

“We confirm that this is our barge that was going to Håkaillbåen in Smøla municipality. We had hired a company that had the task of transporting the barge.

“We are glad that no one was injured during the incident. We have no further information to provide about the incident,” she said.

500 tonnes 

Despite the fact that Måsøval has neither confirmed nor denied it, Kyst.no said it is likely that the feed barge in question is a new barge made by ScaleAQ.

In March, ScaleAQ issued a press release stating that it had entered into an agreement with the company for the delivery of a complete farm infrastructure, planned for delivery in spring 2024 at Hårkallbåen. This included a robust concrete barge measuring 40x20 metres, weighing 500 tonnes.

Visual observations from the Kyst tipster also indicate that this is the barge in question.

What the barge is worth is uncertain. Nevertheless, Flåmo confirmed that the sunken barge was insured.