A misjudgment during navigation was the probable cause of the grounding of the 20,568 TEU Container ship off the German island of Wangerooge earlier this month, an investigation has found.
Incident
On 2 February 2022, at around 11:05 P.M., the Denmark-flagged boxship ran aground while approaching the Weser estuary.
The 399-meter-long ship was on its way to Bremerhaven from Rotterdam at the time of the incident.
After the first attempt to refloat the ship on 3 February failed, the ship was refloated at high tide on 4 February and towed to Bremerhaven. The operation was conducted in cooperation between the ship’s owner, a salvage company, and German authorities.
No injuries were reported among the 30 people on board, no fuel leak sighted and the entrance to the port is not obstructed, they said in a statement.
Investigation
Waterways Police units in Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven have been conducting an investigation into the grounding incident. As part of the investigation, digital recording devices, voyage data recorders, electronic sea charts and the radar recordings of the traffic control centers of the waterways and shipping authorities were secured and evaluated.
“The complex evaluations of these recording devices by the investigating officers of the WSP Wilhelmshaven have so far shown that the container ship got stuck outside the fairway of the “Neue Weser” at the level of buoy 3a there, on a dumping site for dredged material, due to a navigational misjudgment,” German Waterways Police said.
“At that time, the ship was manned by a sea pilot and was sailing under shore radar advice. Due to berth problems in Bremerhaven, the ship, which was already entering the fairway of the “Neue Weser”, had to turn in the fairway and set sail again towards the sea to wait for a new arrival time.”
“Shortly after this turning maneuver, the ship’s command received the order to call the port.. For this purpose, ship turned again to enter Bremerhaven. During the turning maneuver, the ship maneuvered out of the fairway … and ran aground on the dumping point located between buoys 3a and 3b.”
The data have not so far indicated any technical problems on board the containership.
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Source: offshore energy
