…As ACES is again on Fire at Gadani***
A general cargo vessel hit the bank of the Kiel Canal in the night from November 6 to 7, 2017, according to a statement released by German police department Itzehoe.
As informed, the 2,400 dwt RMS Ruhrort ran onto the north part of the river embankment in the canal at around 2:00 A.M. local time.
The third officer lost steering control already at the canal’s 36th kilometer, which caused the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged ship to drift at the port side in the direction of the south canal bank. Immediately after this, the speed was reduced in order to lower the impact of the allision. However, the ship changed the direction and hit the north canal bank.
At around 2:20 A.M., the 81.7-meter-long ship managed to free itself with its own power and continued the voyage.
At the time of the incident, the RMS Ruhrort was carrying wood from Germany’s Port of Rostock to Rochefort.
Following the incident, the 1993-built singledecker was brought to Brunsbüttel for inspection.
As of November 9, the bulker is in the English Channel, underway using engine, the vessel’s AIS data shows.
In the meantime, Gadani’s shipbreaking plot no. 54 was sealed off on November 8 after a fire broke out on-board the ship ACES again, according to the NGO Shipbeaking Platform.
No workers got caught in the flames of the fire, which occurred on the same floating oil production tanker that blew up on November 1, 2016. Last year’s incident took the lives of 31 workers and left at least another 58 workers seriously injured.
“After having been left untouched and unbroken in the same yard since last year’s catastrophic explosion, the Pakistan Department of Environment gave permission last week for the continued breaking of the ACES. Shockingly, on the very first day that the breaking commenced, a massive fire broke out again as the oil residues inside the tanker had not been removed,” the Platform said.
“Clearly, no lessons have been learnt from the series of tragedies that have hit Gadani in the last year,” Muhammad Irfan Khan, member of the NGO Shipbeaking Platform’s Board, added.
Following the major blast on November 1, 2016, dubbed the worst tragedy in shipbreaking history and caused by several gas cylinder explosions, workers have rallied in Gadani to protest against the working conditions and the lack of Government support in enforcing safety and occupational health laws.
After the latest incident, the Deputy Commissioner of Hub District, Mangal, set up an inquiry committee to look into to the EPA approval to resume breaking of the ACES and sealed the shipbreaking yard where it is beached.
World Maritime News
