A bulker ran aground west of Landskrona in Öresund in Sweden, making it the second vessel grounding to be reported in the area in the span of a week.
In the morning of 31 May the Panama-flagged vessel Meshka ran aground west of Landskrona in Öresund. After an initial SAR-operation led by the Swedish Maritime Administration, responsibility was transferred to the Coast Guard, which investigated the cause of the grounding and conducted an oil spill prevention mission.
Furthermore, the Swedish Coast Guard personnel have been on board Meshka and have questioned parts of the crew and carried out sobriety checks. The reason why the vessel ran aground has not yet been clarified.
The vessel reportedly has approximately 938,000 liters of oil in its tanks. However, fortunately, no oil has leaked in connection with the grounding.
According to Swedish media reports, the Swedish Maritime Administration’s traffic center (VTS) spotted that the ship was outside the shipping lane and warned the ship around 10 a.m. local time on 31 May. The crew either ignored the warning or did not have time to respond and change course.
This grounding incident follows the grounding of another bulker, Ali Aykin, in the same area, on 25 May which according to the Swedish Coast Guard, and it is being investigated as a possible case of gross negligence. One individual has been arrested on suspicion of “gross negligence in maritime traffic” the Swedish Coast Guard told local media.
The vessel was carrying a cargo of scrap metal on a routine voyage from Gdansk, Poland to Setubal, Portugal.
As reported, the similarity between the two vessels that grounded is that both have a history of deficiencies reported during port state inspections. The Meshka had 23 deficiencies during a September 2024 inspection at the British port of Immingham.
UK authorities detained the ship for 18 days after identifying structural issues, fire safety problems and crew training issues. The ship however had a clean inspection in May 2025 in Spain.
