Viking Line will pick up the bill for maritime salvage being levied at truck owners by the company that towed the M/S Amorella into harbour after it grounded on a sandbank in Åland.
There were around 40 private cars and 40 trucks on board the ferry when it ran aground on Sunday afternoon. All 200 passengers on board were evacuated safely, and when the ship was re-floated and towed to Långnäs harbour on Wednesday, the vehicles were disembarked.
However the truck drivers were not allowed to take their vehicles until Alfons Håkans, the company which salvaged the ferry, received a guarantee the truck owners or their insurance companies would pay a share of the rescue costs.
It might sound like an unreasonable demand - after all, the truck drivers weren’t responsible for running the ferry aground, they just happened to be on board at the time - but as Alfons Håkans says in a statement, in a rescue situation like this, the owners of the cargo on board the ship, including the trucks and their contents, are responsible for paying a share of the bill.
“A security shall be lodged for a vessel salved under the provisions of the Maritime Law. The requirement for security also applies to the ship’s cargo. The ship’s cargo may be released once a security has been lodged. The security is usually lodged by the insurer of the cargo” the company states.
The charge doesn’t apply to owners of private vehicles however.
By Thursday evening Alfons Håkans said that Viking Line would give a guarantee of payment for the trucks, so they could be released from impound at Långnäs harbour.
The ferry docked in Naantali on Thursday evening where repairs are expected to take at least two weeks.
