OOCL Durban causes crane collapse at Taiwan’s port

The containership OOCL Durban, owned by Hong Kong-based Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), has collided with a stationary vessel and a gantry crane while maneuvering toward its assigned berth at Port of Kaohsiung.

After entering the Port of Kaohsiung, the 316m long and 8,540 TEU Post Panamax containership collided with 2,940 TEU YM Constancy, causing minor hull damages to the stationary vessel.

According to the port’s officials, the incident, which occurred at about 11:30 am local time on 3 June, caused serious damage to the dockside gantry crane (GC8) which during its fall damaged the second, adjacent gantry crane (GC6).

The vessel, which also damaged 30 to 50 containers, was not carrying any cargo at the time.

The collision of the vessel resulted in one dock worker sustaining minor injuries, and two engineers becoming temporarily trapped inside the crane.

The injured worker was rushed to Yuan’s General Hospital for treatment, while the two other workers were rescued without injuries.

The original construction cost of the two affected gantry cranes is NT$600 million total (approximately $21.6 million). The estimated value of the loss to the affected containers remains to be investigated.

According to the latest update of OOCL, no damage of the vessel hull has been observed from a preliminary inspection. The vessel later docked at its assigned berth.

An investigation into the causes of the incident has been launched.