Maritime Safety, including Container-Ships

– 272 collisions, shipwrecks and fatal fires

• Asia : 6610 fatalities
• Africa : 5014
• Oceania : 355
• America : 314
• Europe : 188

Minimal toll. In most cases, the passenger manifest has disappeared or does not match the reality.

Old ferries exported in the Tropics at the end of their lives continue to routinely kill dozens of passengers. Cameroon and the Philippines have just been hit by deadly accidents.

August 25, 2019.
The Cameroon-flagged Austrheim left Calabar (Cross River State, Nigeria) bound for Tiko (South West Province, Cameroon). Depending on the sources, between 132 and 200 passengers and crew members were on board. Caught in strong winds during the night of August 25, the ferry struck a sandbank and capsized off the Bukassi peninsula. 111 people were rescued by the Cameroonian Navy and Nigerian fishermen. 17 bodies have been recovered so far.

Only in French.

Saturday, May 25, 2019, 6:45 a.m., local time. The South Korean container ship KMTC Hongkong was berthed at the port of Laem Chabang, southeast of Bangkok, Thailand. She has offloaded 443 of the 676 containers on board upon the ship’s arrival. A container on the vessel’s foredeck exploded, followed by a blaze covering the port terminal and adjacent area with toxic black and white fumes. 3 piers were evacuated. 200 people were taken to hospital for eye and skin irritations, burns and shrapnel wounds from container debris. The fire was declared under control on the morning of May 26. Extinguishing waters have polluted the waters of the port. Anti-pollution booms have been set up around the ship.

Grande America – Press release #11

After the Grande America in the Bay of Biscay on March 10, 2019, there is a new alert about a ship from Grimaldi Lines, this time in the Mediterranean.

Solomon Trader (formerly known as the Ocean Amber, the Noble Union, the Nueva Union, the Doric Chariot). IMO 9075670. Measures 225m in length. 73,592 deadweight tons. Hong Kong flag. Classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai. Built in 1994 in Ulsan, South Korea by Hyundai. Owned by King Trader Ltd. (Hong Kong, China). Detained in 2005 in Hay Point, Australia and in 2012 in Paradip, India. The Solomon Trader brings bad luck. On July 29,2002, as the Greek flagged Doric Chariot, she left Hay Point (Queensland, Australia) with her coal cargo and ran ground on a coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef near Piper Island. Australian authorities reported no casualties or pollution. On February 20, 2013, as the Hong Kong flagged Ocean Amber, she was anchored at Richards Bay, South Africa. The port anchor windlass motor exploded, which killed an Indian sailor.

March 26, 2019
Grande America, Press Release n°10

Grande America, Press Release n°9

Like the Grande America, which is polluting the seabed in the Bay of Biscay and like the Grande Nigeria, which is heading towards West Africa after a dozen so-called “minor” deficiencies have been identified on board by the Vessel Safety Center of Le Havre, a new specimen of the Grimaldi Lines fleet is approaching the French coast.

Grande America, press release n°8

Following Robin des Bois’ letter to the Secretary-General for the Sea requesting communication of the list of hazardous and non-hazardous materials loaded on the Grande America, a meeting was held today in Brest at the Atlantic Maritime Prefecture. Below is the list provided by the authorities, which includes more than 1,050 tons of hazardous materials.

The Grande America, information note
March 19th 2019 – 10:25

Today at 9:45 am, at the plenary meeting of the HCTISN (High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Safety), the representative of Robin des Bois asked the ASN (Nuclear Safety Authority), the IRSN (French Institute of Radiological Protection and Reactor Safety) and other stakeholders to lift doubts about the possible presence of sealed radioactive sources for industrial use on board the Grande America ship, which caught fire and capsized on March 12th 2019.