Thanks to Aleksandr Mariy

Aleksandr sent me these photos about a month ago.  He took them on April 20 passing Vlissingen and headed generally northward.   And I’m somewhat stumped.  What does Flintercoral look like to you?

To me it looks like a new build, going elsewhere for completion.

Multratug 27 takes the bow and

Multrasalvor 3 at the stern.

So I guess here’s the story:  it was completed as a container vessel, and although it has a Flinter- name, Flinter- never took ownership because the yard had gone bankrupt beforehand.  It seems then that some time later, the ship was purchased by Necon, and  converted into a semi-submersible.  Necon, it seems, has only this vessel.  But why it was under tow a month ago is a mystery.

My experience with Flinter is from 2009, when Flinterduin brought the Dutch sailing barges to the sixth boro, and then Flinterborg picked them up in Albany and returned them to Dutch waters.

The same day, Aleksandr caught Smit Sentosa on its arrival from a one-month passage in from Capetown.

Many thanks to Aleksandr for these photos.  Previously his photos and drawings have appeared here.  Vlissingen (origin of the name of the NYC area called Flushing, settled in 1645) is a quite old port in Zeeland.