A fire erupted in a generator room of an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged container ship while she was docked at the Port of Vancouver’s Fraser Surrey Docks on 12th July. The fire aboard the 28,372gt/2006 built Cap Blanche began after the ship had completed her discharge of cargo and was quickly extinguished. The 2,741 TEU capacity ship is operated by Harmstorf Thomas Meier- Hedde of Germany. The extent of the damage in the engine room required the ship to remain in port at least 10 days.

One person died and one was missing after two general cargo ships collided (and one sank) 25 miles off China’s Port of Zhoushan on 13th July. The two ships, identified as the 4,071dwt Wan Li 8 and the 5,287 dwt Heng run, collided shortly after midnight local time. The 2008-built Heng run reportedly sank several minutes after the collision. The Heng run was en route from Vietnam to South Korea, carrying 5,000 tons of ore. The Wan Li 8, with a crew of 16, was sailing from Zhangjiagang, China, to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, laden with 3,700 tons of steel.

Four days later 20 Seafarers were evacuated from a Singaporean-flagged ship that ran aground one nautical mile off Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur in the Philippines. One crewmember of the 231gt Alam Manis died. The ship had been en-route to Balintang Channel when the incident occurred. The remainder of the personnel were rescued by escort tug MT Salviscount and taken to the port of San Fernando, La Union.

On 22nd July a Turkish-flagged cargo ship sank following a collision with a freighter near the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait on the Black Sea side, killing one crew member. The 498gt/1977 built Sengul-K collided with the 953gt/1968 built Akel near the town of Riva, sinking the Akel. Eight people were rescued, including one injured, and the body of a ninth person was recovered by search and rescue crews a few hours later.

Two days later a general cargo ship capsized after colliding with an oil tanker in the Yangtze River off the Port of Shanghai. The bulk carrier Jiang Xia Xiang was berthing at Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao Port when she collided with the 41,983 dwt oil tanker Bai Chi. the collision reportedly happened due to a violation of collision regulations in crossing routes. The Jiang Xia Xiang had a crew of 16 (all rescued) and was carrying around 75,000 tonnes of stone. The 2007 built Bai Chi, laden with 30,000 tonnes of crude oil, suffered only minor damages to her bow.

On 1st August two container ships collided while one of the vessels was performing berthing manoeuvres in Westport Harbour at Port Klang, Malaysia. The 36,007gt/2009 built Northern Democrat was attempting to berth when she grazed the 54,940gt/2010 built MOL Empire, which was docked. The collision caused three of the containers from the Northern Democrat to fall into the harbour.

The 19,495gt/2013 built Jiang Quan 6 was in danger of sinking after hitting a reef off Zhoushan on 8th august having taken evasive action to avoid a collision with a trawler. The incident caused damage to the ship’s bow and the vessel started to take in water. Immediately the Zhoushan maritime authorities dispatched two Shanghai Fuxing Shipping tugboats to the scene. All 19 crew were rescued and the Huasheng Jiangquan group ship was towed to shallow water to prevent the situation from worsening.

The 2,545gt/2006 built Musketier was boarded by the French maritime gendarmerie on the evening of 9th august and a French coastguard vessel was sent to the ship when noted sailing in the wrong lane in the English Channel for over an hour, with the crew apparently absent from the bridge. Managed by Germany’s Briese Schiffahrts, the Musketier was en route from St. Petersburg in Russia to Bermeo in Spain, laden with iron ore. Initial attempts to contact the crew from the shore on both sides of the Channel proved unsuccessful and, given the danger to navigation in such a busy sea lane, a naval helicopter was dispatched from Le Touquet, which arrived at 2324hrs. With attempts to contact the ship again unsuccessful, personnel from the helicopter were winched down onto the vessel and found the Master, who restored a correct course. For reasons of security, a tug from the maritime gendarmerie was sent to escort the vessel to safety.