On 28th December, the same day as the blaze aboard the Norman Atlantic broke out, two people drowned and four were missing at sea and feared dead after two merchant ships collided in rough seas off the Italian coast, one mile from the port of Ravenna.

The 2,126gt/2011 built Turkish ship Gokbel with 11 crew members sank after the collision with the 3,828gt/1991 built Belize flagged Lady Aziza, in poor visibility. Five members of the Turkish ship were rescued and there were no casualties among the crew of the other ship.

The Cambodia-flagged 1,915 dwt freighter Ming Guang sank on Boxing Day off Aomori, Japan, during a particularly grim period of incidents at sea. The Japanese Coast Guard managed to retrieve all 10 crew members by helicopter and a patrol boat, but three died after being taken to a hospital in Hakodate, Hokkaido. The crew consisted of seven Chinese, a Myanmar national, and two Bangladeshis, the ship’s captain and chief engineer. The vessel was carrying scrap metals to South Korea from Hakodate. Reports suggest that the Bangladeshi captain and chief engineer had little knowledge of navigation and vessels and failed to provide any valid documents after the rescue.

On New Year’s Day the 61,432gt/2008 built oil tanker Alyarmouk collided with the 33,348gt/2011 built bulk carrier Sinar Kapuas north-east of Pedra Brana, Singapore. One of the cargo tanks of the Libyan registered Alyarmouk was damaged, which resulted in the spillage of almost 4,500 tonnes of Madura crude oil.

A major search was launched after a ship overturned off the north of Scotland on 3rd January sometime between 1300 and 1430 in stormy conditions. The 83m long ship’s bow remained above the surface and this was spotted by the Northlink ferry Hrossey at around 1430. The ship was the 1,850gt/1984 built and Cypriot registered Cemfjord (above) which was laden with 2,000 tonnes of cement and bound for Runcorn in Cheshire from Aalborg in Denmark. There was no sign of the 8 crew members and no Mayday call was heard. Four lifeboats, two rescue helicopters and other vessels including the ferry were involved in the search, which was coordinated by Shetland Coastguard. The Coaster was 10 miles east of the Pentland Skerries and her crew consisted of seven Polish and one Filipino. No trace of the crew was found and by the afternoon of 4th January the bow of the fated ship had disappeared beneath the waves. Lifeboat crews said that a likely cause was a rogue wave that would have capsized the ship without warning, trapping the crew inside when she sank. Due to the bad weather, and the vessel’s location, the Cemfjord may well be left as a tomb for her lost souls. The wreck was found on 6th January by the lighthouse tender Pharos using sonar equipment. She is lying on the seabed in the eastern approaches to the Pentland Firth.

On 2nd January it was reported that the 31,256gt/2006 built and 190m long Gearbulk ship Bulk Jupiter had sunk unexpectedly 150 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam. The ship had departed fully-loaded with a cargo of 46,400 metric tons of bauxite from Kuantan, Malaysia on 30th December with 19 Filipino crew members. The Japanese Coast Guard received a distress alert from the vessel but could not make contact. An empty lifeboat and a life raft from the Bulk Jupiter were found by the containership Zim Asia and the tug OLNG Muttrah retrieved one surviving crew member who was able to confirm the fate of the vessel. He was the ship’s Chef and had been in the water for two days. Other bodies were subsequently located and it appears that cargo liquefication caused the ship’s loss. Such cargoes can have high moisture content, it liquefies and the ship then loses stability.