The tugboat, which got stuck last Wednesday during an attempt to tow away a stranded shrimp trawler, has been released again. Rijkswaterstaat pulled Tugboat Ocean II from the Scheveningen towage service back to sea during high tide on Sunday afternoon. The shrimp trawler, on the other hand, is still stuck between two sandbanks off the coast of Zandvoort.
The shrimp cutter arrived around midnight on Tuesday evening getting stuck between two sandbanks. In a frantic attempt to tow away the stuck fishing vessel, which is moored near the beach tent Tijn Akersloot, the Tugboat Ocean II also got stuck on Wednesday night.
Edwin Keur, a photographer who often takes photos for the municipality of Zandvoort, has been on the beach since Wednesday. “You can already hear it, I even sound like I have a cold,” he says. Keur took many photos of the stranded ships on the beach in recent days. These are all on his website can be seen. “It’s a spectacular sight, especially that fishing trawler in the storm.”
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It was quite an operation to tow the tug away. Preparations were already being made by Rijkswaterstaat on Sunday morning. When it was low tide, excavators dug a trench through which the tugboat had to be pulled towards the sea at high tide. And that has now been achieved.
“Around 2 p.m. the Ocean II was refloated to the sea,” says the spokesperson for Rijkswaterstaat. When asked why no new attempt has yet been made to tow the shrimp cutter, Rijkswaterstaat answers: “We are discussing this with various parties.” It is therefore not yet clear when a new attempt will be made.
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