Chittagong Port Authority detained container ship Hansa Rendsburg (IMO 9155377), a 1,718 teu container feeder vessel operated by Hapag Lloyd, after it was alleged to have hit and damaged a quay gantry crane.
The Liberia-flagged vessel travels on the Chittagong-Colombo route.
In its maiden trip the vessel came to the outer anchorage of Chittagong port on September 27th . It took berth at the New Mooring Container Terminal (NCT) the following day. While taking berth at jetty five of the NCT the vessel apparently hit and damaged slightly a quay gantry crane. After unloading the boxes, the vessel was supposed to load 1,400 teu of
Colombo-bound containers, but on September 30th the port authority sent it to the outer anchorage. Port officials informed the vessel’s local agent that the vessel would only be allowed to leave the port after assessments of damage were completed and the issue settled.
However, since then not much seemed to have happened. The Port Authority had not yet started the assessment of the damage two weeks after the incident. The Chittagong Port Authority had received the quay gantry crane from the Chinese state run company ZPMC and they were waiting for the company’s technical team to visit Chittagong to assess the damage. However, due to Chinese National Day-linked holidays, none of the ZPMC officials had yet arrived. The vessel remained detained in the outer anchorage of the port at an
estimated cost of $20,000 a day, In addition, containers were piling up at both Colombo and Chittagong, waiting to be moved.
Port sources were reported to have said that the port authority had asked the agent to sign an “unlimited undertaking” which would permit the vessel to be freed. However the agent would not agree to sign such a bond.
The crane did not appear to have suffered a great deal of damage; indeed it continued loading and unloading following the incident. As of October 20th the vessel remained at Chittagong Anchorage.
2000-built, Liberia-flagged, 18,283 gt Hansa Rendsburg is owned by L&B Hansa Feederschiffe GmbH care of manager Leonhardt & Blumberg Shipmanagement of Hamburg, Germany. It is entered with Gard P&I on behalf of L&B Hansa Feederschiffe GmbH.
