The “Modern Express” had been damaged due to bad weather conditions and sailed adrift in the Bay of Biscay with a list of 43 degrees
The seagoing tug “VB Hispania”, part of Boluda Towage and Salvage’s fleet, has towed the Panamanian-flagged ship “Modern Express” from the port of Bilbao to the port of Aliaga, Turkey, after it was damaged in stormy seas which left the vessel drifting without command and shifted its cargo of 3,600 tons of wood and ten pieces of heavy machinery, causing it to list by 43 degrees.
After righting and securing the ship, it was decontaminated, and the generators were dismantled as it was without self-propulsion. The “Modern Express”, 164 metres long with 28m beam and 18.9m depth, powered by 4,484 hp with a bollard pull of 60 metric tons, was sealed, and without any crew on board left the port of Bilbao definitively on 21 September.
The seagoing tug “VB Hispania”, 48.8 m long, with a 13.8 m beam and 7m depth, powered by 8.050 hp with a bollard pull of 103 metric tons, arrived in Aliaga, Turkey on 10 October after a 2,615 mile journey. Both tugboat and its crew are highly specialized in transferring vessels, floating docks and heavy construction machinery.
