One person was injured and two people were trapped in the wreckage after an 80,000-tonne cargo ship collided with another ship, causing one container crane to collapse at the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung yesterday, 3rd June.
The Durban, the vessel that caused the crash, is a 316m-long container ship owned by OOCL.
After entering the Port of Kaohsiung yesterday morning through the port’s second entrance, the ship, which was not carrying any cargo at the time, collided with the Yung Hung docked at Wharf No. 70, as well as one of the wharf’s gantry cranes.
While the Yung Hung suffered minor damage, the gantry crane (GC8) collapsed completely and, during its fall, severely damaged a second, adjacent gantry crane (GC6).
The accident caused the collapse of one gantry crane, severely damaged a second gantry crane, damaged 30~50 containers, caused a cut injury to the arm of a GC8 crane operator, and temporarily trapped two GC6 maintenance staff.
The GC8 crane operator was rushed to Yuan’s General Hospital for treatment.
The two GC6 maintenance staff were rescued without physical injury.
The original construction cost of the two affected gantry cranes is approximately NT$600 million (total) (approx 17 million euros – the ed.). The estimated value of the loss to the affected containers remains to be investigated” – reports Taiwan International Ports.
As you can see in the video footage, workers ran for their lives as the container crane began to collapse to the ground. As the crane crashed, it hit a stack of containers, causing it also to collapse.
The Port of Kaohsiung is Taiwan’s largest port and the 15th largest port in the world.
Photo credits @ Taiwan International Ports
