The Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is sending a team to St. John's to investigate the never-ending saga of the derelict cruise ship Lyubov Orlova.

Specifically, the TSB will investigate how the rusting vessel broke free from a tugboat on Jan. 23 and went adrift in the North Atlantic.

On Wednesday, Husky Energy had to send the offshore supply ship Atlantic Hawk to tow the Orlova away from oil installations. The vessels are still travelling north in the direction of prevailing wind and weather.

Destination unknown

Meanwhile, Transport Canada has commissioned the Maersk Challenger to take over the tow from the Atlantic Hawk.

There's still no word on where the Orlova will end up, but the St. John's Port Authority has issued a warning, telling Transport Canada it will not allow the ship to berth at any of its facilities.

"It's an environmental risk to the port, the environment in general, our other vessel users that are in the port," said Sean Hanrahan, the president and CEO of the port authority.

"Secondly of all, an operational nigthmare. We can't operate a port around a vessel of such size when we've got such demand for our berthage. And third of all is the financial aspect of it all. Nobody's paying the bills, and we simply can't take on that loss all over again."

Hanrahan said the bill for the 2.5 years the Orlova spent tied up at the St. John's waterfront is about $200,000.

He added that the port authority would like the owner of the Orlova to reconnect a tug boat to the ship and continue to tow it to the Dominican Republic, where it will be scrapped.