- Title: Abandoned submarine in Amsterdam port makes final journey before dismantlement
- Date: 9th January 2020
- Summary: VLAARDINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS (JANUARY 9, 2020) (REUTERS) SUBMARINE ON DOCK SUBMARINE ON MACHINE THAT REMOVED IT FROM SEA VARIOUS OF SUBMARINE SCREW WITH WINDMILL IN THE BACKGROUND CEO OF JANSEN RECYCLING GROUP PETER ROEST WALKING BY SUBMARINE VARIOUS OF ROEST SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) CEO OF JANSEN RECYCLING GROUP, PETER ROEST, SAYING: "It is a submarine built in Latvia. I think it was built in 1956. It served in the navy of the Soviet Union for a long time and eventually it was bought by a Dutch entrepreneur who wanted to use it. In the end it came to nothing and then the boat started to roam a bit. The owner is in the end unknown. It had been in Amsterdam for a long time and the city of Amsterdam actually wanted to get rid of it. It is a 90-metre long submarine and it now weighs about 1,500 tons." VARIOUS OF ROEST SPEAKING TO JOURNALIST IN FRONT OF SUBMARINE (SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) CEO OF JANSEN RECYCLING GROUP, PETER ROEST, SAYING: "We will turn it into scrap that can be melted into a new product. That is actually a very sustainable process. Only the uniqueness of this boat and of this project is that everything on the boat is converted back into secondary raw material." TUBES TRANSPORTED BY A CRANE SCRAPYARD VARIOUS OF REAR OF THE SUBMARINE VARIOUS OF WORKER CONTROLLING INSTALLATION VARIOUS OF INSTALLATION WITH SUBMARINE ON IT MOVING SLOWLY GRAFFITI ON SUBMARINE READING (English): "Vandalized" VARIOUS OF SUBMARINE ON INSTALLATION RUSTY PART OF SUBMARINE VARIOUS OF SUBMARINE GRAFFITI ON SUBMARINE READING (English): "Foxtrot we will miss you"
- Embargoed: 23rd January 2020 17:41
- Keywords: Amsterdam Foxtrot Russia abandonned harbour port recycling submarine
- Location: AMSTERDAM AND VLAARDINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS
- City: AMSTERDAM AND VLAARDINGEN, THE NETHERLANDS
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: Human Interest / Brights / Odd News,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA002BVGCXG9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: An ageing 1,500 ton Soviet-era submarine known as "Foxtrot", built in Latvia in 1956, is being removed from a harbour in Amsterdam where it was abandoned in 2002.
Popular among residents but considered a hazard by environmental officials, the 90-metre (nearly 300 feet), Zulu-class sub has been towed to the port of Vlaardingen, where its dismantling started on Thursday (January 9).
The city of Amsterdam has so far been unable to track down the legal owner of the wreck to cover an estimated 1.5 million euros in clean-up costs. A court case failed to identify the ultimate owner and none of the plans to turn it into a museum or dance party venue succeeded.
"It served in the navy of the Soviet Union for a long time and eventually it was bought by a Dutch entrepreneur who wanted to use it," said Peter Roest of Jansen Recycling Group, which is the company in charge of dismantling and recycling the submarine.
"We will turn it into scrap that can be melted into a new product. That is actually a very sustainable process," Roest said. He added that a new technique would enable asbestos to be removed so that even contaminated steel can be recycled.
A well known landmark in the industrial northern Amsterdam neighbourhood, the submarine was a local curiosity, with small passenger boats navigating near it several times a day to cross the harbour. As cranes started dismantling it, the words "Foxtrot we will miss you", with a red heart painted next to it, could still be seen on the side of the vessel.
(Production Hilde Verweij, Christian Levaux, Hortense de Roffignac) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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