Engineers are studying the steering gear of the ultra-large containership (ULC) CSCL Jupiter (built 2011) after it grounded at Antwerp earlier this week, disrupting the port for hours.
Mechanical failure was raised as the most likely cause of the grounding as the Samsung-built, 14,000-teu boxship attempted to depart one of Europe’s busiest ports for Hamburg.
Automatic identification system data shows the ship successfully navigating the channel and avoiding traffic in the busy shipping lanes after leaving the main Antwerp container terminal at 6am on Monday.
However, 53 minutes into its voyage it failed to turn along the route of the navigational path and sailed directly into the sand bank at Bath on the Western Scheldt.
The ship was not refloated until 7pm in an operation involving more than a dozen tugs and assistance from DNV GL’s emergency response team, causing widespread disruption.
The potential for a prolonged casualty situation involving a serious ULC grounding has long been a concern for European ports because of lack of equipment to refloat the giant ships.
It was steering gear failure that caused the Hyundai built, CSCLIndian Ocean (built 2015) to ground on the River Elbe in February last year when it failed to respond to the bridge's command.
Port state control database Equasis shows the CSCL vessel has a good safety record but officials have identified mechanical deficiencies with the ship in the past.
An inspection in Shanghai in April found the ship had a deficiency with its main engine propulsion system, although there are no details available and it was not serious enough to warrant detaining the vessel.
An earlier inspection in May 2015, again in Shanghai, identified auxiliary engine and machinery deficiencies.
However, it successfully completed its renewal survey by DNV GL in February last year and the vessel has no outstanding conditions of class.
Cosco Shipping Development Co is listed as the owner and manager of both the CSCL Jupiter and CSCL Indian Ocean following the 2016 merger with China Shipping Container Lines. As shipmanager and owner, Cosco has a fairly clean port-state-control record with only four ship detentions for safety failings out of 345 inspections over the past three years.
However, one of those detentions came at the Port of Rotterdam this year when the CSCL Indian Ocean was found to be out of compliance with Marpol Annex VI, which requires vessels to burn low sulphur fuel oil when in European coastal waters.
