Dec, 01, 2020 Posted by Ruth Hollard
Week 202050
On November 28th, a ship owned by the Japanese company, NS United Kaiun Kaisha, collided with two other ships during a mooring maneuver at the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in São Luís. According to Vale, which owns the terminal, there was only material damage and the port continues to operate normally.
According to the mining company, the docking maneuver was being carried out by the ship at Pier IV South, at the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal. The two affected ships were stopped at Pier III of the same terminal.
Vale also explains that the ships were unharmed and anchored 25 miles from the site for inspections. Port authorities were called in and are investigating the incident with support from Vale’s teams.
The Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal was opened in 1986 and was designed to meet the need to transport iron ore and manganese from Carajás – the route is all done by rail.
See below the note issued by Vale on the accident:
“Vale has announced that early Saturday afternoon (11/28), the NSU Carajás, owned by the Japanese company, NS United Kaiun Kaisha, during a mooring maneuver at Pier IV South, at the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal, crashed against two other ships moored at Pier III of said terminal. There was only material damage; there were no casualties or environmental damage. The port authorities were called in and are investigating the incident with the support of Vale’s teams.”
In February of this year, the ship Stellar Banner suffered two cracks in its hull shortly after leaving the Ponta da Madeira Port Terminal, destined for a buyer in Quingdo, China. The vessel had a capacity for 300 thousand tons of iron ore and is 340 meters in length, the equivalent of two football fields. After being stranded for 3 months, the ship was sunk.
Source: G1
