At the Deurganck dock in the port of Antwerp, a ship collided with a crane at DP World’s Antwerp Gateway terminal on Monday afternoon. The crane collapsed and partially landed in the water. There were no injuries.
The ship arrived at the PSA terminal at quay 1740 around 11 am, after arriving from the port of Hamburg. Around 1.45 pm, the ship, the APL Mexico City, got loose from the quay. The cause of this was the bad weather, according to the Belgian newspaper “Gazet van Antwerpen”.
Crane at DP World Antwerp quay 1700 collapses after collision with vessel at 2 PM this afternoon. No injuries. Operations will be resumed soon.
— DP World Antwerp (@DPWorldAntwerp) December 9, 2019
In a video (see below) you can see how the ship slowly sails against the crane of the DP World terminal, after which the crane collapses and ends up in the sea.
The 328-metre-long ship was brought under control with the help of six tugs and a shed. It has a capacity of over 9000 TEU and a deadweight tonnage of 115,060.
Before it can sail again, a great deal of damage to the ship still needs to be repaired. Research will have to show how the APL Mexico City came loose from the berth.
Text continues under video.
MSC Anchorage
A second ship, the MSC Anchorage, also threatened to come loose, according to the Belgian Maritime Services and Coast Agency (Agentschap Maritieme Dienstverlening en Kust). As a precaution, a tugboat was placed against it to keep the ship in place.
This article first appeared on Nieuwsblad Transport (partially based on information provided by ANP), a sister publication of SWZ|Maritime.
