The Dortmund fire department: had to evacuate the 69 passengers from the 'Santa Monika' on the evening of July 20, 2025. The excursion boat was no longer maneuverable at the outer edge of the canal near Franzius St due to a technical defect. The emergency services were alerted at around 7:30 p.m. All passengers were brought off the ship by 8:30 p.m. The crew remained on the 'Santa Monika'. The fire department's firefighting boat then towed the vessel back to the Santa Monika's pier. It turned out that a coupling had broken a few hundred meters from the pier, so that normal docking and disembarkation were not possible.
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AERO 2 HIGHSPEED
On the morning of July 22, 2025, the Port Guard of the Argosaronic Gulf was informed by the Captain of the 'Aero 2' about a failure of the starboard side main engine of the ferry. The Port Authority initially prohibited the ship from sailing- After the presentation of a certificate of class maintenance by the classification society that monitors it, it was allowed to continue its voyages, while administrative sanctions were imposed. The passengers were forwarded to their destination on another ship of the ship-owning company.
ORCA
On July 23, 2025, at around 8 p.m. a drilling crane toppled over while being transported to a construction site in Bremerhaven on the evening of July 23, 2025, and fell onto the 'Orca', which was pulling it, on the Weser off the lock to the industry port. The tug was damaged and sank, with only the upper portions remaining above the water. The master of the vessel was slightly injured by the impact. Emergency personnel from fire and rescue stations 5 and 7 responded to the scene. The fire department brought the man the affected pontoon to safety in a rescue boat. The injured was transferred to the emergency services for treatment. Oil was leaking from the damaged tank of the 'Orca'. Local companies were able to quickly deploy oil booms around the area, supported and advised by the fire department, to keep the oil from spreading. The situation remained stable the following morning, and a salvage company would raise the tug and the crane in the forthcoming days. Reports with photos and audio: https://www.butenunbinnen.de/nachrichten/schlepper-schiff-gesunken-bremen-industriehafen-100.html https://www.nwzonline.de/region/bremen-kran-versenkt-schlepper-im-bremer-industriehafen_a_4,2,1424284958.html
COLOMBIA
The collision between the 'Colombia-Colombia II' and the tank barge 'Eiltank 65' (MMSI: 211513810)on the Volkerak on Jan 7, 2023, near Dinteloord was primarily the fault of the 'Colombia'. However, the Eiltank 65 was not entirely blameless and bears 15% of the blame, the Rotterdam District Court ruled. The vessels were sailing on opposite courses in the dark, with winds of force 5 and gusting to force 7. The 'Eiltank 65' struck the 202-meter long barge combination 'Colombia-Colombia II' almost amidships. At that moment, the barge was sailing in the wrong direction, in line with the 'Eiltank 65', and was simultaneously overtaken on starboard by another vessel. In the case brought by the owner of the 'Eiltank 65' against the 'Colombia', the latter was accused of being at fault for the collision. The 'Colombia' was not only sailing on the wrong side of the fairway, but also allegedly altered its course at the last moment in such a way that a collision became unavoidable and wrongly failed to yield right of way to the 'Eiltank 65'. Furthermore, the 'Colombia' failed to contact the radio or take any other measures to avoid the collision, according to the German company Eiltank. The Belgian owner of the 'Colombia' was invoking force majeure due to strong winds. In the event of force majeure, each party must bear its own damages. The owner of the 'Colombia' believed that both parties were 50% at fault for the collision. The Rotterdam District Court determined that there was no force majeure. In this case, the 'Colombia' is 85% at fault. This leaves Eiltank with a "minor contributory negligence" of 15%. The court based this assessment on several factors: While the wind was strong and the vessels were affected, it was not so strong that the collision was unavoidable. At the same time, it has not been established that the 'Colombia' indeed altered its course to port just before the collision. Eiltank did assert this, but did not substantiate it properly. Furthermore, under the circumstances, the 'Colombia' should have yielded to the right of way. This did not happen, according to the court. The court further argued that it was primarily up to the skipper of the 'Colombia' to contact his colleague on the 'Eiltank 65' by radio. This did not happen, and the 'Colombia' did not take any other precautions to prevent the collision. At the same time, the skipper of the'' Eiltank 65' could have foreseen the collision and contacted the 'Colombia' about it. Because this also did not happen, Eiltank bears a small portion of the blame. The hull damage, loss of time, and expert assessment costs amounted to over €96,000 for Eiltank. The owner of the 'Colombia' must pay 85% of this, or almost €81,700. The €56,300 already paid will be deducted from this, leaving an outstanding invoice of almost €25,400. This amount will be increased by the interest on several of the aforementioned amounts. There will also be an additional €7,000 in legal and collection costs. Because the 'Eiltank 65' was not entirely unscathed in the collision, some money must also be transferred in the opposite direction. The owner of the 'Colombia' will receive approximately €6,800 in damages, as well as approximately €2,000 in collection and legal costs.
ELEGANT LADY
The St. Aldegund Moselle lock, which was damaged in the allision of the 'Elegant Lady' on July 2, has now returned to normal emergency operations. Locking operations were taking place upstream and downstream, but only during daylight hours between approximately 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., coordinated by the Mosel-Saar-Lahn Waterways and Shipping Authority (WSA). The damaged gate is inspected once a week by divers. There are also multiple survey checks. A crisis team will decide at the beginning of next week whether emergency locking operations can continue until the new gate is installed. The new lock gate is expected to be delivered at the end of September from a manufacturer in Aschaffenburg. It is expected to be installed at the start of October within four to five days. The allision caused approximately €2.5 million in damage. The damaged gate was reinforced and repaired, and the lock has been operating in emergency mode ever since. For safety reasons, passenger ships continued to be locked only without their catering crew and guests. Ffor pleasure craft, there is a collective lock passage in both directions once a day. The reason why the lock only operates during daylight hours is that the gate is bent and protrudes slightly into the chamber, which is difficult to see in the dark.