Taiwan International Ports Corporation, Ltd.

Yesterday (03/June/2021) at 11:21am, while maneuvering toward its assigned berth at Port of Kaohsiung Wharf No. 66, the empty containership M/V:OOCL Durban, owned by Orient Overseas (International) Limited, collided with a stationary vessel berthed at Wharf No. 70 and a gantry crane at the same wharf. The incident caused the collapse of the gantry crane and the injury of a port worker, who was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

The 86,679 GRT, 316m-long M/V:OOCL Durban is a container ship owned by OOCL. After entering the Port of Kaohsiung this (June 3rd) morning through the port's second entrance, M/V:OOCL Durban, which was not carrying any cargo at the time and was scheduled to dock at Wharf No. 66, collided at 11:21 with the 32,720GT M/V:Yung Hung docked at Wharf No. 70 and one of the wharf's gantry cranes. While the M/V:Yung Hung suffered minor damage, the gantry crane (GC8) experienced complete collapse and, during its fall, severely damaged a second, adjacent gantry crane (GC6). All told, this 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). The estimated value of the loss to the affected containers remains to be investigated.

An area centered on the collapsed gantry cranes at Wharf No. 70 has been sealed off. The M/V:OOCL Durban successfully docked at Wharf No. 66 at 12:00pm noon and is currently awaiting the arrival of investigators from relevant agencies. Loading/offloading operations have been suspended at Wharf No. 70. During this period, the Port of Kaohsiung will coordinate with all of the port's container yards to ensure this incident does not impact berth utilization or the normal handling of inbound/outbound container traffic at the port. 

Provided by：Business Department, Port of Kaohsiung, TIPC
Contact Person：Wei-hsuan Sun, Director
Telephone No.：07-562-2102
E-mail Address：T01580@twport.com.tw