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The authorities in the Port of Antwerp are trying to determine what caused four containers to fall off a vessel that was being serviced and land on a bunker vessel that was alongside. Luckily, no one was injured in the incident, which happened on Tuesday afternoon, June 9, at the busy container terminal.
The COSCO Hope (140,000 dwt), a 13,100 TEU vessel built in 2012 and owned by Seaspan, was docked at the DP World Terminal in the Deurganckdok section of the port. It is the primary container handling area for Antwerp, reported to be one of the largest in Europe and responsible for roughly two-thirds of all container traffic at Antwerp.
Around 1600 on Tuesday afternoon, the 366-meter (1,200-foot) vessel was loading and unloading containers. Without warning, a stack of four boxes still tied together toppled off the vessel. They fell and landed on the bunker vessel Mati, which was alongside to fuel the containership.
The boxes landed on the deck of the bunker vessel, and reports said it sustained significant damage. There was also a small fuel leak from the bunker vessel. Registered in Germany, Mati is a 110-meter (360-foot) self-propelled bunker vessel.
The four boxes remained tied together, although the top two boxes in the stack were damaged in the fall. The top box was heavily twisted and mishappen and broke open, spilling some contents on the deck of the bunker vessel. The second from the top box was also dented and broken open, spilling its contents as well. The lower two boxes showed less damage and appeared to remain sealed.
The authorities reported the terminal was able to continue operations while they recovered from the incident. The boxes were removed, and the bunker vessel was repositioned. The COSCO Hope was permitted to depart Antwerp on Wednesday morning and, as of late on Thursday, was in the anchorage off Rotterdam.
Fuente: The Maritime Executive
