SPINTORE

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Barge drifted downstream the Rhine after collision

On Dec 18, 2017, at 8.50 p.m. the "General“, 3017 ts (EU-No. 02319642) was in collision with a barge on the Rhine at river km 352. The barge which was being pushed by the "General" broke off and drifted uncontrolled about eight kilometers downstream. A boat of the water police Karlsruhe took on board two crew members of the "General" who could be dropped off on the barge. They managed to anchor it at river km 360,4, but it had suffered hull damage and was threatened to sink due to a water ingress. The fire brigade Karslruhe managed to stem the flooding with dewatering pumps. In the morning of Dec 19 it was pulled into the Rhine Port in Karlsruhe. The river had to be barred for shipping after the accident between Wörth and the Iffezheim lock until the foremidday hours. German report with photo: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/bw/karlsruhe/spektakulaerer-unfall-auf-dem-rhein-rheinbruecke-wurde-fast-gerammt/-/id=1572/did=20835996/gp1=20835996/gp2=20836224/nid=1572/vv=gallery/ta19wc/index.html

One dead and one injured during salvage of barge train

In the evening of Jan 6, 2014, the "General" ran aground jointly with the lighter barge "Soldier" on the Rhine at Lorchhausen. The ships were enroute from Amsterdam to Mannheim. Attempts, to lighter a part of the cargo of 5300 tons coal onto the "Niclas" and pull the ship off on Jan 7 failed. One man of the salvage crew was severely hurt at the head when a wire of the crane ship used for the lightering work broke, and the master of a dredger ship died of a heart attack. Attempts to revive him on scene failed. The injured man was taken to hospital in Düsseldorf with a helicopter. He was stable in the meantime following an operation. The freeway B 42 was closed during the rescue work. When the night fell, the work was interrupted. The Rhine remained temporary closed for ship traffic between Bingen and Kaub, one dozen ships was waiting for passage. First the pushed lighter could be removed and on Jan 8 at noon also the "General" was refloated with three tugs and taken to Lorch for inspections. Obviously the ships got stuck while another vessel was passing them in the opposite direction and they got out of the fairway.In the evening of Jan 1, 2014, the "General" ran aground jointly with the lighter barge "Soldier" on the Rhine at Lorchhausen. Attempts, to lighter a part of the cargo of 5300 tons coal onto the "Niclas" and pull the ship off on Jan 7 failed. One man of the salvage crew was severely hurt at the head when a wire of the crane ship used for the lightering work broke, and the master of a dredger ship died of a heart attack. Attempts to revive him on scene failed. The injured man was taken to hospital with a helicopter. He was stable in the meantime following an Operation. The freeway B 42 was closed during the rescue work. When the night fell, the work was interrupted. The Rhine remained temporary closed for ship traffic between Bingen and Kaub, one dozen ships was waiting for passage. First the pushed lighter could be removed and on Jan 8 at noon also the "General" was refloated with three tugs of a salvage company in Trechtingshausen and taken to Lorch for inspections. Later the ship was allowed to continue to its Destination without the lightered coal. At 1 p.m. the Rhine was opened for traffic again. Obviously the "General" got stuck while another vessel was overtaking them, and they got out of the fairway. The prosecutors in Koblenz launched an investigation regarding what happened during the salvage work, the water police Rüdesheim interrogated several witnesses. Reports with photos and videos: http://www.main-spitze.de/lokales/polizei/havarie-auf-dem-rhein-bei-lorch-staatsanwaltschaft-ermittelt-schiffsfuehrer-stirbt-nach-zusammenbruch_13766059.htm http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/nachrichten/indexhessen34938.jsp?rubrik=36082&key=standard_document_50511135 http://www.ffh.de/news-service/ffh-nachrichten/nController/News/nAction/show/nCategory/topnews/nId/37718/nItem/rhein-frachter-steckt-weiter-fest-schwerverletzter-bei-unfall.html http://www.hr-online.de/website/rubriken/nachrichten/indexhessen34938.jsp?rubrik=36082&key=standard_document_50511135 http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2680/Economie/article/detail/3573894/2014/01/08/Nederlands-schip-op-Rijn-na-2-dagen-vlotgetrokken.dhtml http://www.presseportal.de/polizeipresse/pm/43615/2635113/pol-hbpp-schubverband-wieder-frei