Tag: Maritime History

In 2007, the sinking of the Anchor Handling Tug ‘Bourbon Dolphin’, led to eight fatalities. In opposition to ISM Code, the operating company had not examined whether the vessel was suitable for the operation.

The grounding of the general cargo ship ‘Harvest Caroline’ constitutes an interesting case study of how inconsistent implementation of ISM can lead to unpleasant situations. 

In 2006, the RoRo ‘Cougar Ace’ was involved in an incident that caused its entire cargo of almost 5,000 brand new cars to be scrapped. The incident highlighted issues related to the assignment of duties in a ship’s SMS, within the context of ballast water exchange operations.

The capsizing of Herald of Free Enterprise, only a few minutes after leaving Zeebrugge port on 6 March 1987, killed 193 people. The incident is considered, not only as the deadliest casualty involving a UK-registered ship since 1919, but also as a wake-up call for safety improvements.

More than 30 years have passed since the explosion and sinking of the VLCC ‘MT Haven’ off the coast of Genoa, Italy. To date, Haven is not only known as the world's largest shipwrecks, but also the largest oil spill in the history of the Mediterranean Sea.

Sewol ferry sank on 16 April 2014, in South Korean waters taking the lives of over 300 people, most of whom where kids on a school excursion. Four years later, in August 2018, the official panel investigation on the accident said it could not find exact causes for South Korea’s deadliest maritime casualty since 1970.

In April 2021, a fire onboard the Italian passenger ferry ‘Moby Prince’, Italy’s worst merchant marine disaster since the end of World War II, broke out. The incident, resulting in death of all but one person onboard, highlighted how miscommunication in emergency situations can be disastrous. 

On 31st March, shipping mourns a relatively recent tragedy: The loss of the South Korean VLOC ‘Stellar Daisy’ in 2017, which took almost entire crew at the bottom of the South Atlantic.

The ‘SuperFerry 14’, the deadliest terrorist attack in Philippines, killed a total of 116 people. The blast occurred on 27 February 2004 in Manila Bay, claiming the title of the world's deadliest terrorist attack at sea until today.

The semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit ‘Ocean Ranger’ off Canada, sank along with its entire 84 crew, claiming the title of one of the worst offshore drilling accidents in North American history. The incident forms another example of how lack of compliance with procedures and inadequate safety culture can have tragic consequences.