On 11th December Carisbrooke Shipping’s 2,990gt/2008 built Paula C made an unexpected appearance at Southampton instead of Poole. The reason for the visit was the result of a collision off North Foreland with the 44,325gt/2012 built bulker Darya Gayatriafter making a sharp turn to starboard to avoid a fishing vessel in position 51 22.9N, 001 52.3E, at 0031hrs UTC. Both ships were in the South-bound lane when the collision occurred. Both had been instructed to make a starboard turn, the Paula C did, but the bulker apparently ignored the instruction. The Darya Gayatri diverted to Falmouth for repairs, arriving on 12th and departing on 27th December. Meanwhile the Paula C left Southampton for Rotterdam on 28th December for repairs to her port-side bridge wing.

On 27th December the 500gt tanker MT Awang Bazaowas reported as grounded on a reef in the Bintan Sea, off the Riau Islands. The ship was bound for Singapore and bad weather was blamed for the incident.
Two days later the 55,000gt car carrier Gravity Highway, which was on sea trials from the Hyundai Mipo Shipyard, collided with the 29,211gt/2003 built chemical tanker Maritime Maisie some 9 nautical miles off Busan, South Korea.The impact caused a fire on the tanker, which was in danger of sinking, and some of the 27 crew members sustained light burns or abrasions, but none serious. Firefighters succeeded later in bringing the blaze under control, with about 4,000 tons of the chemicals (paraxylene and acrylonitrile) lost in the blaze. There was also a fire aboard the car carrier but this was quickly extinguished before she was towed back to the shipyard.

The storms over the Christmas and New Year period created havoc for shipping and one such casualty was the 5,599gt/2008 built bulk carrier Abuk Lion off the coast of Cork, Ireland. She went adrift on 29th December after losing power. The 411gt/1986 built tug Celtic Isle went to assist in 7 metre seas and finally secured a tow line the next day to tow the ship to Cork. The Bermuda-flagged Abuk Lion was underway from Aughinish to St. Petersburg in Russia when she lost power and was loaded with 7,500 tonnes of bauxite.

On 2nd January the 2,141gt/2011 built tanker Aqasi, carrying vegetable oil, was towed into Portsmouth for repairs after both of her anchors fouled the ship in St. Helens Roads off the Isle of Wight.

Heavy seas off Lisbon on 6th January almost claimed the Russian general cargo ship Rusich 1 when her anchor dragged and left her in danger of grounding. The crew got the engines started and moved the ship out to sea just in time whilst she was pounded by the lively seas. Lifeboats were called at 0300 on 11th January after a freighter collided with a tug and barge about nine miles off the Kent coast at Dungeness.

The 15,549gt/2011 built Rickmers Dubai was bound for Genoa, Italy when she was in collision with the tug and the barge the tug was towing. The barge was hauled to Dover by the Trinity House ship Galatea and the tug made her own way there and took the barge into Dover’s western docks. Nobody was injured and the Rickmers Dubai proceeded to anchor off Newhaven. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch is investigating the collision.