A Japanese-owned bulk carrier has destroyed a pier after appearing to lose control in the port of Barranquilla, Colombia.
El Universal newspaper reported that Nissen Kaiun’s 60,500-dwt Hakata Queen (built 2016) was intending to leave the terminal with 30,000 tonnes of coal when the accident happened on Friday.
Video footage shot from the dock on a mobile phone begins with the vessel drifting sideways towards the concrete structure as two port workers run for safety
Increasingly anguished shouts are heard from the quayside as the ship ploughs into the pier, where a tug is tied up.
The tug is dislodged and the pier breaks up and sinks.
The shouting becomes angry, with plenty of swearing audible in Spanish.
A crew member is seen watching the incident from behind the bow railings.
The bow anchor is then dropped from the Hakata Queen.
Nissen Kaiun told TradeWinds its managers were checking the matter and could not comment further.
The port authority has begun an investigation into the Panama-flag ship’s actions.
Anchored in port
The vessel was destined for Richards Bay in South Africa, but is now anchored off Barranquilla port while the probe is carried out.
The Hakata Queen is insured by the Japan P&I Club.
It has a clean port state control detention record, but 10 deficiencies were found in June in Ravenna, Italy, including an incorrect record of rest entries, a lack of fire drill training, a blocked means of escape and a holed deck.
