Port Kelang: On the evening of 28th October 2014 two large containerships collided at Malaysia’s Port Kelang, triggering fires in the forward container stacks of both vessels. The ships involved were the 96,386gt/2014 built and 8,700 TEU San Felipe (above) and the 141,077gt/2012 built and 13,500 TEU Al Riffa. A fire erupted in containers aboard both ships with the Al Riffa being moved away from her berth to prevent the fire spreading ashore. The San Felipe was arriving at the port under the command of a Pilot when she came into contact with the Al Riffa. The fire was also controlled on board the San Felipe, which moved to a safe anchorage to assess the damage. There were no injuries to the crews as a result of the incident and tugs stood by.

Hurricane Gonzalo: On 20th/21st October the tail end of Hurricane Gonzalo struck the Irish Sea, English Channel and North Sea regions causing various incidents. Grimaldi’s 56,738gt/2002 built Grande Francia lost 4 containers and then later another 6 north of the Dutch Island of Terschelling. The 3,826gt/1989 built general cargo ship Ernst Hagedorn also reported losing part of her deck cargo, 60 bundles of wood, overboard north of Ameland.

Stockholm: On 29th October the 90m long and 2,844gt/1996 built cargo ship Kertu ran aground at approximately 0500 in the Stockholm archipelago. Oil was reportedly leaking from the hull and seven crew were evacuated from the vessel. The Captain and Engineer remained aboard the ship along with some Coast Guard and salvage personnel. Oil was quickly transferred to an undamaged tank and the four metres of water ingress was reduced to 1.5 metres via pumping to stabilise the ship for towing to Oxelösund for assessment and repairs.