On October 2013, the Dutch-registered LPG tanker CORAL IVORY and the cargo ship SIDERFLY, flying the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, collided in the Kiel Canal west of the viaduct at Brunsbuttel.
The ammonia-laden CORAL IVORY had left her berth in Landeshafen Ostermoor, located to the south of the canal route, a few minutes beforehand and started to turn into the Kiel Canal towards Kiel. Despite the use of the bow thruster, the ship moved too far into the northern part of the canal during this manoeuvre and collided with the oncoming SIDERFLY, which was sailing towards Brunsbuttel.
BSU report determines as a primary cause of the accident the failure to comply with the instruction to the CORAL IVORY to start filtering into the Kiel Canal only after the passage of the SIDERFLY issued by VTS Brunsbuttel in the course of the traffic flow control entrusted to it, which legally was undeniably a shipping police order and must therefore be observed.
Further details may be found by reading BSU report
Source: BSU
