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The End Is Nigh
   This gash is nearly two metres long!
 Locked and loaded aboard the Dockwise ship for her final voyage.
You can still see the Holcim logo on the funnel!
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The port of Helguvik, Iceland. The wharf is to the right, and where "Fjordvik" ended up is on the left!
This despite having a pilot on board as she came into port circa 12.30am on 3 November 2018, carrying 1600 tonnes of cement and 104 tonnes of gas oil.
Granted, conditions weren't idyllic, but she's endured far worse weather in our area of the world.
I don't know what the accident report will say, but to me, this looks like a serious loss of situational awareness, resulting in the vessel's grounding on the breakwater and subsequent rupturing of the hull.
During the course of the following six days, all the oil was pumped out of the ship, while she flooded right through the engine room but, remarkably, not the holds - almost all the cement remained dry. She was down beyond her marks, particularly at the stern, where her rudder and propeller became victims of the pounding she took.
Eventually as much sea water as possible was pumped out, and at 8.30pm on 9 November 2018, "Fjordvik" was towed off the rocks and down the coast ninety minutes to the larger port of Keflavik.
There she remained for a few days while as much remaining sea water as possible was pumped out of her and she was made good as best as possible, ahead of a short voyage across the bay to the drydock in Hafnarfjordur on November 13, where all the damage could finally be revealed ...
It was telling that by this date, she had already been removed from the fleet list of her operators, SMT Shipping. Anyone hoping that she'd return to the high seas after this episode, think again!
The target date for plugging all the holes and making her as seaworthy again as possible was December 20, but it wasn't until early March that she was loaded onto the "Rolldock Sea" to take 'La Grande Dame' on her final voyage, to Ghent in Belgium, home of Europe's largest ship recycling plant, NV Galloo Recycling Ghent.
She arrived in her final resting place on March 11, and after being discharged from the ship, the slow process of dismantling "Westport" commenced, with her demolition being completed on July 19, 2019.
A sad and premature end to the stellar career of, given the tone of the comments on Facebook as this news came to pass, this much-loved icon of the New Zealand shipping scene.
"It came as a big surprise to see how many responded to this coverage of 'Fjordvik', specially from New Zealand, and it's clear that lots of folks over there have feelings towards this ship".
Bata og bryggjubrolt, Icelandic Facebook shipping community page
Requiescat In Pace, "Westport".
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    Four photos of the dismantling process at Ghent.
Pics sourced from www.shipspotting.com
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