A Chinese VLCC has been damaged after hitting a pier in Panama.
Terminal company Petroterminales de Panama (PTP) told local media that the incident occurred on 11 April at Charco Azul on the Pacific Coast.
Video footage from the scene showed the vessel involved was China Merchants Energy Shipping's 308,000-dwt New Assurance (built 2018).
Photographs showed the tanker with a small hole in its hull above the waterline on its port bow, while the end of Pier 2 at the company's Pacific terminal was heavily damaged.
PTP said it activated its contingency plan, but 91 litres of crude were spilled from its structure. This was fully controlled.
The company added that the accident occurred as the New Assurance docked.
No injuries
No injuries were reported and other shipping was not affected. The Panama Maritime Authority inspected the site and ruled out any impact on wildlife.
The pier has been closed for repairs, with ships diverted to Pier 1, according to newspaper La Estrella de Panama.
The New Assurance is classed by China Classification Society. It has undergone four port state control inspections since its delivery, with no detentions.
The VLCC has protection and indemnity insurance insurance through West of England.
China Merchants' in-house manager Associated Maritime said in a statement that "during berthing operations and whilst under pilotage, the vessel allided with the terminal at Puerto Armuelles, Panama at approx 0635 local time, 11 April 2020."
It added: "There were no injuries on board as a result of the incident. However, the vessel's forepeak tank, which is a void space, was breached.
"There was no reported loss of oil from the vessel and a full damage assessment is being carried out."
The statement concluded: "All the relevant authorities have been informed and the incident has been reported to the P&I club and insurers. An investigation has been launched into the cause of the allision."
The collision marks the second incident in less than a month for PTP, which operates facilities on both ends of a pipeline that crosses the Panamanian isthmus.
According to newspaper La Estrella de Panama, a minor spill took place at PTP's Atlantic terminal during discharge from Zodiac Maritime's 157,200-dwt Neptune Moon (built 2019). The spill was blamed on a failure of the terminal's discharge hose.
This article has been amended to reflect that the spill at the Atlantic terminal was from a terminal discharge hose.
