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Tanker hits Kochi gantry berth fender

Our Bureau

KOCHI, Dec. 14

CLOSE on the heels of a collision of an oil tanker at the South Tanker berth of the Kochi port while berthing, another vessel was involved in a similar incident on Thursday, when it hit in one of the fenders of the gantry berth while anchoring at the con tainer terminal.

The incident occurred in the early morning when the container vessel Gulf Surendip was trying to anchor at the Q-8 berth in the Ernakulam wharf with the help of port's pilotage. The feeder vessel, plying in Dubai-Kochi-Colombo route, had hit at one of th e fenders as it turned while berthing.

Though there was only a slight damage to the fender, the vessel had a severe loss. The bulbous bow (front portion) of the ship was damaged, which has to be repaired fully before loading the 185 containers meant for export. The ship arrived with 113 conta iners for landing and had started discharging cargo soon after anchoring at the berth.

The failure in the pilotage, which was normally carried out by the port for each and every vessel coming to the port from the outer channel, was stated to be the reasons for the mishap, sources at the port told Business Line.

The sailing of the vessel would be delayed for another two days resulting in the loss of an additional berth hire and charter hire to owners, apart from repair costs. The agents of the vessel had approached a Kochi-based firm to carry out repairs and the vessel would be shifted to Q-7 for this purpose, the sources added.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the port maintained that the damage to the fender was so minor as there was only a small crack which could be repaired fully. It would not in any way affect the loading and unloading operations at the gantry berth for othe r vessels.

He, however, said that the port would claim compensation from the owners after the assessment was done by the Civil Engineering department.

It may be recalled that the South Tanker Berth of the port was partially damaged in November when the vessel Pratiba Cauvery hit at the berth while anchoring and damaged almost all the fenders.

At that time, tidal problems were stated to be the reason for the incident. The vessel was released by the port authorities only after getting the bank guarantee of Rs 1.5 crore for the damages from the owners.