The 29,381gt/1996-built general cargo ship Saga Sky anchored at Dungeness after suffering damage when she collided with an anchored rock barge, the Stema Barge II, three miles south west of Dover due to the ferocity of Storm Angus in the early hours of 20th November. The Saga Sky had discharged a cargo of wood pulp in Brake, Germany and was sailing in ballast to Uruguay. The ship entered the Dover Strait traffic separation scheme as the weather rapidly deteriorated, with wind speeds in excess of 80 knots. The vessel’s speed dropped and she began to pitch heavily. The propeller came out of the water causing the engine to over-speed and shut down. The engine was restarted and the vessel was manoeuvred out of the traffic lane. However, she then began to drift rapidly towards the Varne Bank and shallow water. Both anchors were deployed but this failed to arrest the drift. The alarm was raised at 0720 but the Saga Sky struck the barge at about 0840. The collision resulted in significant damage to both vessels and two coastguard search and rescue helicopters evacuated eleven of the 23 crew members who were on board the cargo ship. Due to the particularly challenging weather conditions at the site, the coastguard declared this a major incident. The 1,585gt/1979 built Abeille Languedoc was dispatched to the scene and the stricken ship was towed to Dunkerque for repairs.

At the end of November officials in the Cayman Islands were trying to determine exactly how much damage was caused to a coral reef after the grounding of the 2,936gt/2001 built containership Saga near George Town. The 3,800dwt ship ran aground early on 25th November as she was leaving port. The ship’s hull reportedly crushed a significant area of the coral reef. In October, the Cayman Islands Government had settled with Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen over damages to a reef caused by the anchor of his mega-yacht Tatoosh earlier this year.

On 17th November the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) responded to a grounded bulk carrier in the Beaufort Inlet Channel near Fort Macon, North Carolina, U.S.A. The incident temporarily closed the channel to all commercial vessel traffic. The 24,199gt/2014 built and 37,648dwt Pola Palekh ran aground in the vicinity of buoy 16A in the channel and was freed with the aid of tugs the following evening and towed to Morehead City State Port Terminal for inspection. According to the USCG the Pola Palekh was carrying 35,800t of fertilizer and holds approximately 27,000 gallons of fuel oil.

It was reported on 22nd November that the 30,006gt/2009 built and 49,999dwt crude carrier UACC Shams (above) had collided with the 37,113gt/2001 built and 40,059dwt container ship Celina Star in the Bay of Algeciras off Getares Beach, Spain. The tanker was proceeding to enter the port, while the containership was leaving, but manoeuvred and crossed paths with the other ship. The UACC Shams suffered a dented bulwark on the portside while the container vessel suffered dents to the starboard side aft. The accident was reported to the local authorities and both ships were ordered to anchor in the Bay of Algeciras for special survey and inspection.

Traffıc in the Bosphorus Strait was briefly suspended on 28th November following a minor collision between two bulk carriers around the Anadolu Hirasi. A rudder malfunction on the 2,457gt/1973 built and 3,634dwt Forward, caused the ship to collide with the 37,550gt/1997 built and 70,000dwt Wadi Alkarnak. The resulting side impact caused minor damages and both vessels anchored off Istanbul after briefly blocking the waterway. Traffic in the Bosphorus was suspended at 1413 and resumed at 1506 local time. Three more foreign flagged vessels were detained in UK ports during November 2016 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA). Apart from this trio, the Malaviya Seven, Sea Trident, Southern Star and Cien Porciento remained under detention from previous months.

Those detained in November were the 3,266gt/1997 built Daroja (Aberdeen), the 748gt/1972 built Atlantic Surveyor (above) at Shoreham and 22,863gt/2011 built Royal Harmony at Southampton.