In the aftermath of the Baltimore tragedy, the history of the container ship involved in the disaster has been scrutinized.
Several media revealed that the ship which struck a pillar of a major highway bridge in the American city during the night from Monday to Tuesday, causing the collapse of part of the structure, had already been implicated in an accident in the Belgian port of Antwerp in 2016. The incident, which took place shortly after the boat was launched, however caused limited damage.
The episode was documented in July 2016 by two maritime tracking sites, Vessel Finder and Shipwrecklog.
According to these archives, the cargo ship MV Dali, 300 meters long and 48 meters wide, collided with a berth in the port of Antwerp, in the north of Belgium, while trying to leave the site.
The ship, built by the Korean Hyundai shipyards a year earlier, had tried to propel itself but had gained too much momentum backwards, hitting the quay.
The container ship, which at the time belonged to the Greek company Oceanbulk Maritime, was leaving the Antwerp container terminal heading to Bremerhaven, Germany, according to The Guardian.
On a video of the incident, we can see the cargo ship backing up against the quay and scraping its edge, letting a plume of white smoke escape, while warning sirens sound.
A navigation “error” involved
“Damage” had been noted at the stern and transom of the boat, notably on “several meters of its hull”, according to Shipwrecklog.
The berth was “severely damaged,” but fortunately the collision did not cause any injuries or pollution of the water, according to Vessel Finder.
Still according to the site, the incident took place in good weather and would be linked to a navigation “error” by the captain and his team.
Antwerp port authorities confirmed to Reuters that the container ship hit a quay on July 11, 2016, while trying to leave a North Sea container terminal.
The same year, an inspection of the ship carried out in the Belgian port revealed that the ship had a structural problem, namely "damage to the hull affecting its seaworthiness", according to Equasis, a public database on the maritime industry , cited by the press agency.
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The boat remained at the dock after the incident, while the repairs were carried out, before being able to return to sea. “As a general rule, these accidents are the subject of an investigation and the ships are only authorized to leave after that experts have determined that they can do so safely,” a port spokesperson told Reuters.
The damage ultimately remained limited to both the quay and the cargo ship, according to La Libre Belgique, which specifies that the incident was the subject of an investigation by the Nautical Commission of the Antwerp company court.
A fault in the machines repaired in 2023
The MV Dali is today operated by shipping company Synergy Group, but still chartered by the same company as in 2016: Danish shipping giant Maersk.
The Singapore-flagged container ship was sailing to Sri Lanka when it collided with the Francis Scott Key highway bridge in Baltimore.
The crew, made up of 22 people according to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore, was entirely Indian and did not include any members of the Maersk company, the carrier said in a statement.
Also read: Collapsed bridge in Baltimore: why the theory of technical damage to the ship is favored
Furthermore, the Chilean port authorities reported a defect in the ship's machinery in 2023, an anomaly quickly repaired by the shipowner according to the Chilean navy.
Those in Singapore said on Wednesday that the boat had passed two inspections in 2023 and that a faulty fuel pressure monitoring gauge had been repaired in June.
The cargo ship's classification certificates relating to "the structural integrity of the vessel and the operation of the vessel's equipment were valid at the time of the incident", they said.
Emergency services suspended searches around the Baltimore Bridge on Tuesday evening, with US authorities believing that the six missing people were now presumed dead.
Two other people who fell into the water were recovered, one of whom was in serious condition.