ESKIL

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Near collision incident investigated and shed light on work overload

The Swedish State Accident Investigation Board has investigated the near collision of the ferry 'Baltic Princess' (IMO: 9354284) and the 'Eskil' off Stockholm on Oct 4, 2025. The results now stated that the incident was caused by the 'Eskil' which had departed from Ålstäket towards the Ström Quay in Stockholm In heavy fog and had a problem with an alarm from the starboard side main engine. When the alarm could not be reset, the crew decided to head directly towards the Ström Qiay. In the meantime, the master and deckhand tried to silence the recurring alarm and to restart the main engine. The 'Eskil' thus came far to the port side of the fairway in an unplanned manner. After this, the crew must have discovered that the 'Baltic Princess' was directly in front of the ship. The master of the 'Eskil' then increased speed and turned to starboard. The 'Baltic Princess' had to give way to the ship by first turning to port and then giving hard rudder to starboard. According to the Swedish Maritime Safety Board, the 'Eskil' passed “very close to the bow of the Baltic Princess” at the time of the incident. The cause was considered to be that the master of the 'Eskil' was exposed to an abnormally high workload for a prolonged period due to the sound alarms. Another factor was considered to be the lack of knowledge and familiarity with the technical systems on board. The Swedish Maritime Safety Board believed that this led to attention being diverted from navigation and that the ship therefore drifted unintentionally to port. The recommendation to the operator Djurgårdens Färjetrafik AB was now to ensure that the crews have the knowledge of the engine system that is required to be able to handle different situations that may arise.