– The situation is precarious. We haven’t had a ferry connection since ten o’clock on Friday, says dairy farmer Nina Søreng. She lives on the island of Mindland in Alstahaug municipality in Nordland. On Friday morning, the ferry “Stokkafjord” pulled into the ferry quay. so it had to be closed and a shuttle boat was set up. According to Brønnøysunds Avis, there are 13 farms that deliver 20 tonnes of milk every three days. The message from Tine is that the milk must only be turned out when the tanker cannot land on the island. Thus, Søreng had to empty out the milk she had prioritized on Monday. Now she is terribly afraid that they will have to empty out the milk on Thursday as well. As if that wasn’t enough, farmers are starting to run out of concentrate. Diesel and other necessary equipment are also in short supply. Leader of the Nordland farming association, Hanne Sofie Jenssen, describes the situation as critical. – Now they have to empty out the milk. It is direct food waste. It is very broken. At the same time, this is a great strain on the farmers considering that they are not supplied with feed. Jenssen describes the situation as sad. – Both this and other cases where the ferry connection is suddenly interrupted show that we are vulnerable. Photo: Private – Animal welfare is taken care of as long as they have feed, but the farmers feed with both concentrated feed and forage. It is the concentrated feed that they cannot deliver, the concentrated feed is essential for both dairy cows and pigs on the farms. Desperate residents Ferga that collided with the quay sustained damage to one bow visor above the waterline and is now moored at Tjøtta. For the residents of Mindland, the collision has meant that no ferries can dock. That means they are isolated. Something that doesn’t just give farmers challenges. The damage was so extensive that the quay had to be closed. Photo: Nina Søreng – We lack diapers and bread. It is completely behind the goal, says Stine Frestad. – We need better transport so you know you will get home, what is planned in the future. How long will the crisis last? Dairy farmer Kyrre Pettersen is distraught over the situation. – This is deplorable. I have spent a large part of the day on the phone to get information from the county. I have tried to get hold of Boreal, but they are not answering. – These are tragic conditions. I am both distraught and pissed off. The weather forecast for the next few days does not make the situation much better. On Tuesday and Wednesday, strong winds and heavy rainfall are reported. The fender wall at Mindland has such extensive damage that the ferries cannot dock. Photo: Kyrre Pettesen Bad weather makes work at Boreal challenging. – An inspection of the quay and a risk assessment of the ferry berth and its call will be carried out as soon as the weather conditions permit. The safety of passengers, crew and material has the highest priority, and we do not take any risks until we are absolutely sure that it is safe to use the ferry. writes communications manager at Boreal, Jon Kristian Fadnes to news. The shipping company has launched an investigation to determine the cause and the Norwegian Maritime Directorate has been notified of the incident. – We are investigating several factors, including maneuvering conditions, technical conditions and weather conditions at the time of the incident. It is important for us to understand the incident as best as possible in order to be able to take the necessary measures to prevent something similar from happening again. According to Fadnes, the ferry terminal at Mindland is closed indefinitely. It was the ferry MF “Stokkafjord” that drove into Mindland on Friday. The vessel has several damages and is in the workshop to be repaired. – Terribly unfortunate – I think it’s terribly unfortunate. This is an event that no one wanted. A very unfortunate incident. I understand the frustration of the dairy farmers who have to pour out the milk and not get it delivered. That’s what Marianne Dobak Kvensjø (H) county councilor for transport says. Kvensjø says that crews have been out to, among other things, do diving surveys. – We have carried out investigations over the weekend and are waiting for the latest reports. Unfortunately, it may look like some of the larger repairs will take some time to put in place before we return to a completely stable offer. We have set up passenger transport, so that we can transport people with a smaller boat back and forth. Photo: Sofie Retterstøl Olaisen / news – We have made some repairs which mean that we can see that we can have an opening of the quay. But then we see in the weather forecast that very bad weather has been announced in the future, which helps to make it a little uncertain. The county municipality is working to deliver fodder to the farmers. – We know that there are a number of dairy farmers who need to get their milk out to the dairy, but also get hold of feed and diesel. We had hoped that we would be able to collect milk today, unfortunately that has not been possible. Published 22.10.2024, at 14.10 Updated 22.10.2024, at 17.09
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Drained 20 tonnes of milk – news Nordland
