''Full City'' is a Panama-flagged
bulk carrier
A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...
made infamous by running aground after an engine failure during a storm at the island of Saastein (Såstein) outside
Langesund
is the administrative centre of the municipalities of Norway, municipality of Bamble, Norway.
The town of Langesund was established as a municipality 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was merged with Bamble 1 January 1964.
In the ...
,
Telemark
Telemark is a traditional region, a former county, and a current electoral district in southern Norway. In 2020, Telemark merged with the former county of Vestfold to form the county of Vestfold og Telemark. Telemark borders the traditional ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, spilling 700 tons of
heavy bunker fuel oil in a sensitive wildlife refuge area on 31 July 2009. ''Full City'' was built by
Hakodate Dockyard Co. Ltd. in
Hakodate, Hokkaidō
is a Cities of Japan, city and seaports of Japan, port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in 1995.
The vessel was pulled off the rocks and first towed to Stathelle, and later to Gothenburg
for full drydock repairs.
On 5 May 2011, as part of NATO's counter-piracy
Operation Ocean Shield
Operation Ocean Shield was NATO's contribution to Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa (OEF-HOA), an anti-piracy initiative in the Indian Ocean, Guardafui Channel, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. It follows the earlier Operation Allie ...
, the carrier
USS ''Carl Vinson'', the cruiser
USS ''Bunker Hill'', and the Turkish frigate
''Giresun'' responded to a distress call from ''Full City''. An
Indian Navy
The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...
Tu-142
The Tupolev Tu-142 (russian: Туполев Ту-142; NATO reporting name: Bear F/J) is a Soviet/Russian maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft derived from the Tu-95 turboprop strategic bomber. A specialised commun ...
maritime patrol aircraft located ''Full City'', and while ''Giresun'' boarded the merchant vessel, ''Bunker Hill'' intercepted a
dhow
Dhow ( ar, داو, translit=dāwa; mr, script=Latn, dāw) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Typically spor ...
believed to be the 'mothership' for the pirate attack. ''Bunker Hill''s
VBSS
Visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) is the term used by United States military and law enforcement agencies for maritime boarding actions and tactics. VBSS teams are designed to capture enemy vessels, combat terrorism, piracy, and smuggli ...
boarding party seized weapons and other equipment commonly used in piracy, and the boarding party also sank a small skiff being towed by the dhow. ''Giresun''s boarding party found ''Full City''s Chinese crew safe and in control of their ship.
See also
*
List of oil spills
This is a reverse-chronological list of oil spills that have occurred throughout the world and spill(s) that are currently ongoing. Quantities are measured in tonnes of crude oil with one tonne roughly equal to 308 US gallons, 256 Imperial gallon ...
*
Full City oil spill
The Full City Oil Spill was a major fuel oil spill incident that occurred on July 31, 2009 when the bulk carrier Full City Ship grounding, ran aground on the island of Såstein / Sastein south of Langesund, Telemark, Norway. The ship, said to be o ...
References
External links
''Full City'' position trackerat ''
Sailwx''
''Full City'' Daily Vessel itinerarieat ''MarineTraffic.com''
{{coord, 58, 58, 15, N, 9, 42, 38, E, source:kolossus-svwiki, display=title
1994 ships
Bulk carriers
Maritime incidents in 2009
Ships built in Japan
Ships of COSCO Shipping