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Friday, March 29, 2024

Storms disrupt huge military transport exercise

Severe storms along the Norwegian coast over the weekend caused problems for a chartered cargo ship that was part of a military exercise in transport logistics. The DFDS vessel Britannia Seaways, bound for Bergen and carrying 300 military vessels and other equipment, had a fire in its engine room and then got caught in the storm.

The fire broke out around 7pm and reportedly spread to some of the military cargo but was under control by 10pm. The vessel was then around 40 nautical miles from Florø and set course for land, but had to sail at slow speed. An effort was mounted to evacuate the 12 crew members on board but that was cancelled because of the bad weather.

The military transport was part of an exercise involving the logistics operations of the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Cyber Defense and Civil Defense in Hordaland, on Norway’s west coast. The idea was to ensure that the military can move large quantities of equipment from one area of the country to another, and that land forces can operate as a single unit.

The storm, meanwhile, calmed down on Sunday and insurance companies reported they were receiving fewer damage claims than initially expected. Many areas of Trøndelag remained without power Monday morning, however, with flooding and fallen trees causing problems over a wide area from Bergen and Sogn og Fjordane north to Bodø.

newsinenglish.no staff

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