End of career for L'Abeille Flandre which will be deconstructed in Brest

• After 44 years of good and loyal service, L'Abeille Flandre has just arrived in Brest for its last stopover.

• The ocean-going tug will be deconstructed, as will her twin, L'Abeille Languedoc.

• He had notably participated in the towing of the rear part of the oil tanker Erika after its sinking off the coast of Brittany in December 1999.

Many sailors in distress owe him a debt of gratitude.

After 44 years of service and hundreds of rescues, the deep sea tug

arrived in Brest this Friday to be deconstructed.

For its last stopover, the ship chartered by the French Navy, 63.5 meters long and 14.4 meters wide, was welcomed to the sound of the bagad of Plougastel by several dozen onlookers.

VIDEO L'Abeille Flandre welcomed with music in the port of #Brest pic.twitter.com/FdXl8OdguE

— AmelieThomas (@ThomasAmeli) September 30, 2022

Access to this content has been blocked to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "

", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I ACCEPT

And to better remunerate 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our "I accept for today" button in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Management Policy page.

He began his career in Brest in 1979 after it was taken over by Les Abeilles International, a French shipowner specializing in offshore towing.

The ship notably carried out the towing of the rear part of the oil tanker

after its sinking in December 1999 off the coast of Brittany.

In 2005, she was moved to the Toulon service station, before giving way there on June 17 to L'Abeille Méditerranée, one of the most powerful tugs in the world.

Deconstruction as the “only way out”

“Deconstruction turned out to be the only reasonable solution in the absence of a viable memorial project,” emphasizes Samira Draoua, president of Abeilles International.

The Navaleo company in Brest was chosen to ensure its deconstruction.

Its twin,

, has also been being deconstructed in Brest since August 2022.

The two ships, which were built in 1978 in the Norwegian shipyard in Ulstein, will be deconstructed simultaneously from March 2023. Until then, Navaleo teams will remove asbestos and remove fluids and furniture.

Company

Saint-Malo: What will become of the Russian freighter immobilized for six months?

World

War in Ukraine: The largest humanitarian aid boat left Marseille

• Company

• Navy

• Sea

• Rescue

• Vessel

• Boat

• Brest

• Brittany