Iron Baron (ship)
1995 maritime incident in Tasmania, Australia
The Iron Baron was a 37,557 dwt bulk carrier built in 1985. It was chartered by BHP Shipping in 1990, running aground nar the mouth of the Tamar River in 1995 and later being scuttled off Flinders Island.
History
Built by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Kurashiki, Japan, the ship was launched in December 1984 as the Ocean Express. It was sold in 1985 to Hibaya Enterprises and in 1987 to Showa Aircraft Industry. In 1989 it was to Great Shipping, Panama and renamed Irrawaddy. Later the same year it was sold to Burma Navigation Corporation. It was sold 1990 to IS Shipping, Liberia, going on bareboat charter by BHP Shipping later that year for five years, being renamed Iron Baron.
On 10 July 1995 it was nearing the end of a voyage transporting 24,000 tonnes of manganese ore from Groote Eylandt via Port Kembla to the port of Bell Bay, Tasmania, Australia. Weather conditions at the time were north-westerly 37–46 km/h (20–25 knot) winds and two-metre seas. It grounded on Hebe Reef as it approached the mouth of the Tamar River and began leaking bunker fuel oil.
“Iron Baron (ship)” enters the record as 1995 maritime incident in Tasmania, Australia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Iron, Baron and ship can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15243275. Authority coordinates are -39.220, 149.130. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1985, 1990, 1995 and 1984.
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This entry incorporates text from “Iron Baron (ship)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.