TUGBOAT KLEMENS - PRAIA DO PATACHO (VILA NOVA DE MILFONTES)
In December 1996, the Klemens left the Dutch port of Leewarden, bound for Portimão. On the night of 12 December, with good weather and calm seas, the ship ran aground near the “Pedra do Patacho”, very close to the Vila Nova de Milfontes WWTP. The reasons for the incident appear to be related to the inability of the four crew members, as none of them had the necessary qualifications for sailing on the high seas.
The lack of documentation on the part of the crew members and the lack of insurance and registration of the vessel led to much speculation regarding their involvement in illegal activities. After a long game of “push and shove” between various entities to decide who would be responsible for removing the tugboat, in 2003, the indescribable statement from the Sines Customs Delegation appeared:
“The goods in question are no longer of any interest to the Public Treasury, so Your Excellency can give them any other destination, namely considering them as urban solid waste”.
In other words, now that we can no longer make any money from them, you solve the problem.
The response from the Odemira Council is acceptable and understandable:
“The municipality rejects the proposal, as it believes that it is not its responsibility to resolve the matter. The CMO does not have the technical means to remove a vessel measuring approximately 20 metres from the beach, nor the conditions to deposit such waste, which is anything but household waste and which not even the Aterro Sanitário do Litoral Alentejano will have the capacity to receive”. Almost thirty years after the shipwreck, everything remains the same; no authority has decided to remove this gigantic piece of rusty metal from a beach located in the heart of the Southwest Alentejo and Vicentine Coast Natural Park.
Information: vnmilfontes.info