MV Alta


MV Alta is an abandoned Panamanian-flagged merchant vessel built in 1976. Alta was abandoned in October 2018 after a US Coast Guard relief operation to rescue the crew about south-east of Bermuda, stranded after the ship was rendered irreparably disabled on a voyage from Greece to Haiti. The ghost ship was then sighted by HMS Protector en route to the Bahamas.
In February 2020, the ghost ship Alta ran aground on the Irish coast near Ballycotton, Cork amid Storm Dennis. The rare story of a modern day ghost ship, as well as the length of time it spent floating without crew or captain at sea, has caught the global public's imagination and curiosity.
The responsibility of the wreck fell to Irish Minister for the Marine as per the Salvage and Wreck Act 1993, until a receiver of wreck is appointed. Despite efforts to determine the ownership of the ship—so that the Irish state can try to recover costs incurred—as of 2020 ownership had not been established. Although the ship's commercial scrap value is "low," the cost to the Irish exchequer of removing the wreck could exceed €10 million. Alta had previously been the subject of an ownership dispute, with claims it was once hijacked and towed to Guyana, but efforts have been made to establish where it was last registered. Some reports suggest the ship was sailing under a Panamanian flag when its crew were rescued and it was abandoned in October 2018, while other reports suggest it was registered in Tanzania. Sixty-two full barrels of oil were ultimately removed from the wreck by helicopter.