An evacuated Amasus Shipping heavylift carrier is under tow to Alesund, and Norwegian authorities believe the ship is out of danger of grounding.
The crew of the Dutch-owned 4,200-dwt heavylift multipurpose (MPP) ship Eemslift Hendrika (built 2015) were be evacuated by helicopter on Monday after deck cargo shifted in heavy seas and a severe list could not be corrected.
But salvors succeeded in boarding the Eemslift Hendrika by lines from a coastguard helicopter and attached a tow at about 11.30pm local time (2230 GMT) on Wednesday.
The ship was being brought into the sheltered waters of Breisund among the islands of the west Norwegian coast under tow at a speed of three knots to Alesund, the Norwegian Coastal Authority (NCA) reported on Thursday.
Officials at Delfzijl-based Amasus Shipping were entering meetings on Thursday morning and could not comment, but one employee expressed relief.
"We are just arriving in the office now after a busy night as you can imagine," the employee said.
Smit Salvage is in charge of the commercial rescue operation using two chartered Norwegian anchor-handling tug supply vessels, Bukser og Berging's 5,440-bhp BB Ocean (built 1999) and Solstad Offshore's 32,972-bhp Normand Drott (built 2010).
"There have been no special challenges in the course of the night, but the preparedness level is being maintained until the ship is safely berthed," the NCA announced. "The salvage crew is on board the stricken vessel and the tow is being escorted by [Norwegian coastguard vessel] KV Bergen."
TradeWinds has previously reported that earlier Norwegian coastguard attempts to board the vessel and attach a tow had to be abandoned because of sea conditions, including waves of up to 18 metres and strong northerly winds of up to 72 kph.
Current local conditions have improved to three-metre to five-metre waves and winds of 22 kph, according to NCA authorities.
Local media have followed the Eemslift Hendrika incident closely because of worries about potential coastal pollution, and an oil spill response team continued to stand by.
The ship contains some 350 tonnes of heavy fuel oil and 50 tonnes of diesel.
