A German general cargo ship has sustained significant damage after reportedly hitting an offshore wind turbine in the North Sea.
German police identified the vessel as the 1,700-dwt Petra L (built 1984).
A photo showed a V-shaped gap torn into the top of its starboard hull.
TradeWinds’ sister publication Recharge said Danish energy company Orsted has launched an investigation after the incident on 24 April at its Gode Wind 1 plant off Germany.
The turbine has been taken out of service for inspection, but there were no injuries, said Orsted, adding: “Further investigations have already been launched. The cargo ship itself did not directly contact maritime surveillance, but Orsted’s in-house control centre has documented the incident.”
Maritime police said the vessel was now in port but had no further details.
The Petra L is operated by MP Shipping of Hamburg, which could not be contacted.
The vessel had been heading from Poland.
Its last port state control inspection was in Germany in 2021, when 11 deficiencies were found.
Collisions rare but not unknown
Grounds for detention include an inoperative emergency fire pump, a corroded fire-dampers remote control and cracked freeing ports.
Insurance cover is provided by Skuld in Norway.
The 332-MW Gode Wind 1 was put into service in 2017 using Siemens Gamesa 6MW turbines at its site 33 km off the German islands of Juist and Norderney.
Accidents between vessels and wind assets are rare but not unknown as the industry deploys ever-increasing volumes of turbines in the seas off Europe.
In 2022 an out-of-control cargo ship hit a substation foundation at the construction site for one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms, Hollandse Kust South in the Dutch North Sea.
