On Monday 9 December, a huge ship-to-shore container crane collapsed after being hit by the container ship “APL Mexico City”. The collision took place in the port of Antwerp, with the container vessel being unmoored, since its mooring had broken due to squally weather.
The 9,200 teu “APL Mexico City” was moored at the Deurganck dock when suddenly released from its mooring and hit the crane. There were no accidents or any injuries reported, but the crane was completely destroyed and all the cargo operations had to be cancelled, while it was forced the closure of the terminal.
Thankfully, there was no one in the crane at the time of the collapse. According to researchers, the mooring which caused the collision had probably broken due to the windy weather conditions.
Overall, collisions at sea is a quite often seen phenomenon. Previous this summer was reported a similar situation with a container ship colliding with a pier at Terminal Petikemas Semarang in Indonesia. Concluding, during the last SAFETY4SEA Singapore Forum, Harry Hirst, Partner & Master Mariner, Ince & Co highlighted how to avoid a collision.
