SEASPAN EMPIRE

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Latest news

Container ship found abandoned race yacht

An abandoned sailing yacht drifting unoccupied in the mid-Atlantic was identified – thanks to Jersey and French Coastguards and the captain of the "Mol Empire". The Jersey Coastguard received a call from the captain of the container ship which had discovered the 20-metre yacht while sailing from Savannah, where he had departed on Jan 7, 2019, to Le Havre, ETA Jan 19. The vessel was 1,500 miles away from Jersey so the co-ordination for the incident was passed onto the British National Maritime Operations Centre which has the resources to initiate search and rescue missions so far offshore. The captain of MOL Empire had circled the sailing vessel a few times and tried to launch his rescue craft to see if anyone was on board but the sea conditions were too rough. He then took photographs of the yacht and emailed them via satellite to Jersey Coastguard, CROSS Jobourg and the UK Coastguard. The CROSS Jobourg quickly identified the sailing vessel as the "Sponsors Wanted", a participant in the Route de Rhum race which took place during the first two weeks of November 2018. The skipper Claire Pruvot of the vessel had encountered extremely stormy conditions after a collision during the race from St Malo to Guadeloupe and was rescued but had to abandon her boat. Due to the persistence and ingenuity of the ship’s captain, advances in offshore telecommunications and collaborative working between four Coastguard agencies, the incident was resolved in under 90 mins without a single SAR unit having to be dispatched. Report with photos: https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2019/01/18/yacht-found-drifting-in-mid-atlantic-with-no-one-on-board-identified-thanks-to-jersey-and-french-coastguards-and-a-plucky-container-ship-captain/

Container ships collide in Port Klang, Malaysia

The container ships MOL Empire and Northern Democrat collided in Westport harbor at Port Klang, Malaysia. The accident happened during maneuvering for berthing at the quay. After the accident several containers fell overboard and one shore crane was damaged. The reason for the accident was higher speed and strong wind, which caused drifting of the container carrier MOL Empire over the already berthed Northern Democrat, which was performing cargo handling operations at same time. The both ships are slightly damaged, but without any problem for stability and seaworthiness. There are no injured seamen and dockworkers during the collision. The both vessels were detained for inspection and until further investigation. The container ship MOL Empire (IMO: 9407160) has overall length of 294.00 m, moulded beam of 32.00 m and maximum draft of 11.00 m. The deadweight of the vessel is 67,000 DWT and the gross tonnage is 54,940 GRT. The ship was built in 2010 by Hyundai Heavy Industries in their shipyard in Ulsan, South Korea. The container ship Northern Democrat (IMO: 9391787) has overall length of 230.00 m, moulded beam of 32.00 m and maximum draft of 10.50 m. The deadweight of the vessel is 41,986 DWT and the gross tonnage is 36,007 GRT. The ship is owned by Norddeutsche Reederei and built in 2009 by Shanghai Shipyard. http://www.newsmaritime.com/2015/container-ships-collided-in-port-klang-malaysia/