Marine accident round-up : 13th September 2023

Divers have carried out an underwater inspection of the boxship Vento (IMO 9319569) in order to ascertain the point of contact location on the bottom, a salvage plan was issued by the salvage master on the basis of the inspection and other sounding records around the vessel. The vessel ran aground overnight September 3rd/4th at Cape Ammoglossa, Kos island, Greece, while en route from Nemrut, Turkiye, to Ashdod, Israel. It had 426 containers on board at the time. The ship ran onto a sandy bar and the hull was understood to have remained intact.

2005-built, Turkiye flagged, 9,910 gt Vento is owned by Akkon Vento Gemi care of Akkon Denizcilik of Istanbul, Turkiye. ISM manager is Mefa Deniz Acenteligi of Istanbul, Turkiye. The ship was refloated by tugs during the afternoon of September 6th and towed to an anchorage for a detailed underwater inspection in the presence of a class surveyor and hull experts. As of September 11th the vessel remained stationary at Kos Island anchorage, listed as “at anchor”.

A few days after the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy (IMO 9083380) entered the East Siberian Sea after leaving Kodiak, western Alaska, on August 27th it sailed close to Russia’s prestigious Northern Sea Route (NSR). Healy was undertaking the journey as part of a month-long science expedition to service oceanographic equipment. At this point, on September 1st, Russian government-owned Akademik Nemchinov (IMO 8409032) left the port of Pevek on the shore of the East Siberian Sea on Sep 1 and headed towards the Healy. The Russian vessel was thought to be shadowing the Healy. As a state vessel, the Healy is not subject to requiring authorisation for transit on the NSR. The international law of the UN Convention would allow the Healy to transit the route without prior authorization from Russia. Similarly, Russia would break no laws by shadowing it. Should the Healy enter what Russia defines as internal waters, other problems could arise.

1999-built, USA-flagged, 15,150 gt Healy is owned and managed by United Staes Govt Coast Guard.

1988-built, Russia-flagged, 3,224 gt Akademik Nemchinov is owned and managed by SMNG JSC of Murmansk, Russia.

Cargo ship USG Zurich (IMO 9458444) suffered an engine malfunction in the southern Bosphorus while transiting from Tuzla to Novorossyisk on September 7th. The ship was taken in tow by tugs Kurtarma 6 (IMO 9463176) and Kurtarma 10 (IMO 9598593). The unloaded ship was later moored on Ahırkapı anchorage for repairs.

2013-buily, Liberia-flagged, 20,682 gt USG Zurich is owned by Universal Solutions Group LLC care of manager Klan Gemi Yonetimi Ltd (Clan Shipmanagement Ltd) of Istanbul, Turkiye. It is entered with Skuld (Skuld Nordics and Eastern Europe) on behalf of Universal Solutions Group LLC. As of September 11th the vessel was at Istanbul Anchorage.

Efforts have been continuing to recover the containers from container ship Pangaon Express (IMO 8662309). The vessel was moving containers coastally and inland in Bangladesh when on July 6th it lost stability, tilted and partially sunk (IMN July 10th 2023 and subsequent days). As soon as the containers have been recovered, they will be taken to Pangaon Port and opened in the presence of a representative of the importer. The Company anticipated that some containers would be impossible to recover due to their underwater location.

2004-built, Bangladesh-flagged, 2,195 gt Pangaon Express is owned by Chittagong Port Authority of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and managed by Summit Alliance Port Ltd of Dhaka, Bangladesh.