C/V HMM ALGECIRAS Allides With (and Knocks Down) Ship-To-Shore Container Crane [Antwerp, BE – 25 December 2023]

Posted by admin on Dec 28, 2023 in Bulletins

Information coming to Blueoceana Company reveals that the ultra-large container ship HMM ALGECIRAS, while attempting berthing maneuvers at Antwerp port, Belgium late Christmas night, encountered heavy winds which ostensibly overcame the efforts of her assigned tugboats and caused the vessel to make contact (allide) with at least one of the PSS Nordzee Container Terminal’s ship-to-shore container gantry cranes. One such crane came off its rails and was knocked down.

C/V HMM ALGECIRAS, with a length of 400 meters [approx. 1,312 feet] , a width of 61 meters [approx. 200 feet] and a container carrying capacity of 23,964 TEU, was the largest containership in the world when launched in the year 2020. Since that time, Evergreen Lines, MSC, CMA-CGM and ONE have put marginally larger container ships into service.

The economies of scale which have served as the impetus for deploying such large container ships speak for themselves, but one has to wonder if such economies plug into the equation the risks (and costs) associated with the loss of some very expensive container handling gantry cranes through allision and the undeniable potential for associated human loss.

Blueoceana Company’s records (2016 to Present) list forty six (46) such allisions wherein container ships (the majority of them of the larger variety) have knocked down some rather expensive lifting appliances while berthing or departing ports worldwide.

Many marine terminals have adopted procedures wherein ship-to-shore cranes are gantried away from a docking vessel’s bow flare. Others have adopted procedures that do even more. However, once a terminal’s marginal wharf space is occluded with other ships requiring service, shifting cranes can get to be a rather problematical exercise. Add to that the complicating factors of wind and weather, and we have the makings of a circumstance that will give rise to even more of these allisions if no further proactive measures are introduced.

In this most recent accident, it is remarkable that there were no injuries to personnel. In the past, that has not always been the case.

Photos provide by a colleague at Antwerp: