Fatal ship accidents present salvage opportunities for tugs

Fatal ship accidents present salvage opportunities for tugs
Martyn Wingrove 11 Dec 2018 https://www.tugtechnologyandbusiness.com/news/view,fatal-ship-accidents-...

Ships collided and grounded and vessels sank in east Asia and the Mediterranean causing death, injury and salvage opportunities.

A crude oil tanker and an Indonesian coaster collided in the Singapore Straits injuring seafarers.

According to Singaporean reports, cargo vessel Makmur sank on 10 December after a collision. It is thought that tanker Breeze collided with the vessel while sailing from South Korea to Sri Lanka. Makmur was en route from Singapore to Thailand with 11 crew on board, of which four were injured from the collision.

Two cargo ships capsized in China with the death of at least one mariner and others listed as missing. According to Fleetmon, Rui Xing Lun ran into rocks in the Bohai Sea, off Shandong Province, causing it to break apart and sink on 8 December.

Pollution mitigation and search and rescue operations were launched at the accident location. Nine crew were rescued, but one was dead and another seafarer was missing. This ship crash caused an oil spill, which was contained with booms.

Also on 8 December, cargo ship Yu Hong 998 capsized in the Yangtze river. According to Fleetmon, even though a search and rescue mission was launched, five of the crew remained missing in the Wanzhou area.

There was another ship crash last week in the northern Aegean Sea, off Turkey. Cargo ship Barlas and bulk carrier Panda collided off Babakale, Ayvacik district of Canakkale, Turkey, while sailing in the same direction, on 6 December. Both sustained damage, but there were no injuries or pollution and both ships were able to resume their routes westwards.

Also in the eastern Mediterranean, tug Viking grounded on rocks while towing a dredger. It grounded on the coast of southern Crete, Greece, while towing a dredger from Egypt to Mallorca, Spain. It encountered rough weather and anchored off Malata, but was driven on to rocks. A crew of eight seafarers was rescued, but fuel oil has leaked from the tug.

In the western Mediterranean, a cruise ferry suffered a propeller fault leading to a redirection and passenger transfer. A problem with the portside propeller shaft occurred on Cruise Roma after it left Porto Torres, Sardinia en route to Barcelona, Spain.

Cruise Roma was redirected to Civitavecchia, Italy, where the 390 passengers were transferred to another Grimaldi ship to take them to Barcelona.