Lost timber cargo yet to make landfall in southern England

Some 30 packs of softwood timber were lost from the Mekhanik Yartsev during bad weather in the English Channel.

The 2,489 gross tonnage ship listed badly following the spill and had to be helped into Southampton harbour accompanied by tugs. The ship had been sailing from Riga, Latvia with its timber cargo.

“The vessel reported to HM Coastguard the loss of 30 pieces of cargo, during bad weather conditions at around 1am, approximately 20 miles south of the Worthing area on the south coast,” said the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

“The cargo packages are approximately 3-4 cubic metres each and contain timber. The packages are reported to have broken up resulting in individual planks floating on the surface.”

The last report put the most likely landfall of the lost cargo as the Isle of Wight but none has yet been reported as washed ashore.

A previous timber ship spill in 2008 saw 1,500 tonnes of timber lost from the Sinegorsk off the coast of Sussex, with large volumes washed ashore at Worthing.