On 16th August the 1,968gt/1997 built Platform Supply vessel Skandi Stolmen, operated by Norskan offshore, a wholly owned subsidiary of Norway’s DOF, caught fire off the coast of Macae. All sixteen crew members onboard were rescued by nearby vessels and the local port authority. The fire was extinguished during the early hours of the following day. The authorities commenced an investigation to clarify the causes of the incident. 

The Bosphorus Strait was closed again on 21st August to marine traffic after a general cargo ship lost propulsion and blocked the shipping lanes near the first bridge area. The 94-metre, Malta-flagged and 3,676gt/1995 built Lady Hayat suffered an engine failure while en route from Turkey’s Port of Tuzla to Novorossiysk, Russia and is operated by Turkey’s GN group.

On the afternoon of 30th August a lifeboat was deployed by the Aberdeen coastguard when two crewmembers aboard the 24m bunker vessel Erin Wood reported the vessel was taking on water after a collision with the Cyprus registered 3,266gt/1997 built feeder containership Daroja. The barge had suffered serious damage below the waterline having been hit by the general cargo ship’s bow. The barge listed heavily as water entered a ballast chamber. Coastguard members managed to pump out water from the barge before a fishing vessel towed her into nearby Peterhead harbour. The Daroja, owned by Germany’s Hinsch Reederei, also moored at the same harbour pending an investigation into the accident.

Late on 31st August the 10,948gt/1988 built oil and chemical tanker Paros Wind collided with the 23,268gt/2013 built bulker CS Jaden in the Black Sea around 8 miles from the entrance to the Bosporus Strait. The bulker had left Istanbul carrying wheat on her way to Port Said, Egypt when she collided with the tanker which was on her way from Tuapse, Russia, to an unknown destination. Turkish coastal authorities sent a fast rescue boat to the scene and 10 tugs. The vessels were both towed to a location just off Kumkoy, north of Istanbul, for inspection.

On 9th September yet another incident unfolded when the Panama-flagged 20,151gt/2001 built El Condor Pas ran aground during a northbound transit of the Bosphorus Strait. Rescue boats and a tug were dispatched to the area amid fears that the vessel may have leaked oil.