Collision Between Laden Containerships in the Suez By Rob Almeida On September 29, 2014 Something went terribly wrong today aboard Hapag-Lloyd’s containership Colombo Express when it lost control and slammed into the Maersk Tanjong today. Both vessels were heading south through the Suez Canal. From the following AIS replay of the incident, it appears the Colombo Express was attempting to overtake the Maersk Tanjong and when a left rudder was applied to come back to a parallel course, the rudder went hard left. As rudders on ships like this are powered by large, finely tuned hydraulic systems, it is possible that the this system failed and was the cause of the incident. In fact, while in the Navy, my ship had this very same issue occur, however we were not near any other ships and were able to take manual control of the steering gears and return to port without issue. Hapag-Lloyd notes in a statement there were no injuries or pollution as a result of the incident. Maersk Line spokesperson Michael Storgaard notes in phone call that three containers were lost over the side from the Maersk Tanjong, one has been recovered. No further details on the damage were available however. The collision was expected to delay Suez traffic in both directions. The following images are via portsaid-alyoum: colombo express damage Damage to the port bow of the Colombo Express The collision occurred at 0715 local time at kilometer 15 and the Colombo Express suffered a 20-meter dent to its port bow, according to a statement by Inchcape Shipping Services.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 08:06:13 +0000
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