Another ship having a bad day

Carrying wood to Le Harve, I wonder what the problem is as it is reported to have developed slowly

I looks like a RORO whose cargo broke free and shifted.

it sure looks like that ship was going over several times during the video.

I hope all the crew is safe.

I believe the French Navy is attempting to save this transport.

The BBC reports it is a Spanish tug that has it in tow at 3 kts.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35456682

They will need to find somewhere that is sheltered and see if there is anything that can be done to get it up right or I am afraid it is heading to Davy Jones locker.

From reading the article, it sounds like previous efforts to right the ship failed. That they now expect it to sink and are towing it further out to sea to avoid having a coastal hazard?

That unfortunately seems the likely outcome which is probably why they winched the guys off who got the line on it before starting to tow it.

I agree. It's quite surprising actually. If they get a calm weather day, it may be possible to get some guys on it and winch the cargo back to the port side, but chances are the wood is all piled on the stbd side in a great confusion.

I'm sure there are many incidents like this but remember reading an article (or book) about the salvage efforts to right a similar ship "Cougar Ace" utilizing the ballast (stabilization) tanks.

From NY Daily News

It's being towed at 2 to 3 knots, well away from land. On it's way to Bilbao.

I don't know how difficult it would be to right it, but I would think towing it into a port with calm water would be easier to try to remove the cargo and such so it rights itself. Yeah you have potential of it sinking and fuel, but they also have the cranes to help right it already in place.

Their intent is to tow it to the port of Bilbao. They are keeping it in deep water just in case they lose it.

Well the other issue is will it scuttle if it's full of wood? It doesn't look like the wood could float out of it. Wood is pretty bouyant and if they try to scuttle it they might have an even bigger issue on their hands with a 1/2 sunk boat floating around the ocean for months. You could possibly burn it, wood should ignite pretty easy. I think the only viable thing would be to get it in a port, get a couple of cranes giving it lift on the stbd side keeping it mostly upright and to start unloading it. Then again I know nothing about ship salvaging.