KYODO PROGRESS

The Bulgarian built bulk carrier KYODO PROGRESS sailed after completing her discharge of animal feed at Shieldhall on a quiet, peaceful afternoon, after high winds prevented her from sailing over the past couple of days. She was built in 1981 by the Georgi Dimitrov Shipyard at Varna for Bulk Nedlloyd BV of Holland, and was originally named AMSTELVOORN. When she was relatively new, she had the misfortune to suffer from a steering gear failure while transitting the Lower Mississippi River. She succeeded in ramming a jetty belonging to the Lower Bayou Steel Company, suffering damage to bow above the waterline. Shoreside damage was later estimated to be in the region of $8 million. Later becoming SUN VALLEY after being sold in 1987, she was again renamed on a further change of owners in 1991 when she became OSLAND. This name was abbreviated in January 1996 to LAND, the ship finally taking her current name in October 2007. With a deadweight of 37,991 tonnes, KYODO PROGRESS has an overall length of 201.56 metres. She was sailing for Riga, in the Baltic Sea.