(With extra pictures) Car carrier Baltic Ace sank on the busy ship route to and from Rotterdam and had to be salvaged. The salvaged sections have now all been transported to the Waalhaven in Rotterdam.

The ship sank on 5 December 2012 after a collision with a small container ship, the Corvus J, in bad weather. The Baltic Ace, carrying 1452 new cars on their way to Russia, capsized and sank within fifteen minutes. Thirteen of the 24 crew members were rescued, eleven died and three remain missing to this day. The missing crew men may still be found in the salvaged sections.

Wreck Sawn into Sections

Because the wreck formed a danger to shipping and the marine environment, Rijkswaterstaat, part of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, decided to remove the wreck in its entirety. To do so, the ship was sawn into sections that were lifted and placed on pontoons. The last large sections were transported to the Waalhaven in Rotterdam early September. From there on, the sections will be transported to Vlaardingen for demolition and recycling.

After the vessel's owner renounced ownership, a large part of the salvage costs fell to the Dutch government.

The album below contains extra pictures of the wrec sections in the Waalhaven. Please click the pop-out link to view the pictures in their proper dimensions (all pictures by SWZ Maritime editor Hugo Dill).