2020 – Uruguay – Montevideo – Port Montevideo Derelicts
Image by Stand by Ukraine
Arriving or departing Port Montevideo via the River Plata, one (everyone) has this for a view in the port waters.
Its a ship graveyard, right in the middle of the harbour.
Derelict fishing boats, tugs and even larger ships are abandoned making for a weird sight.
Seeing this surprising, large collection of half sunk, rusting, and abandoned boats and ships in the center of this cities working harbor raises a number of questions. Who abandoned them and why? How long have they been here? What is anybody doing about them?
So dear reader, some background:
Among the derelict vessels are Uruguayan and foreign ships whose disposal is complicated because owners and agents are hard to locate or operators have gone out of business.
The fishing boats, freighters and tugboats do not have much market value since most of them are big and old, but they could be sold for scrap.
Many of the abandoned ships contain large amounts of concrete, timber and insulation, all materials that are difficult to clean up – yeh what else bad for the environment is lurking in these loser hulls?
17 June 2015 The Uruguay Newspaper:
The Uruguayan Government will remove some 50 ships abandoned in the Port of Montevideo by their owners because of debts or liens. The derelicts will be re-floated and taken away according to the Uruguayan National Port Administration.
Hmmmmm, looks like that plan hasn’t floated yet.
