Container ship X-Press Kohima suffered serious damage on Monday (30 May) afternoon after being hit by an oil tanker at Chittagong port jetty while the boxship was under loading/unloading operations.
The oil tanker namely “Madina-7” hit the container vessel after engine failure and during the incident, it was being towed by a tugboat.
The incident created a big hole in the boxship’s body thus the agent was forced to shift it to a nearby TSP jetty for repair.
The 1,597 TEU vessel now has 92 TEU export containers onboard and the authorities are planning to send all the designated containers to Colombo port by other vessels as Kohima will need at least a week to be ready for sailing.
Saiful Islam, an official of Sea Consortium Bangladesh Ltd, the local agent of the vessel, said a surveyor will survey the ship today (31 May), and later the P&I Club will also survey the situation while a classification society will give advice on how the repair has to be done.
A shore workshop will carry out the necessary repair of the vessel, according to Islam, who said, after that, the ship will be brought to the working berth
“We have another vessel where we will accommodate some of the designated containers of Kohima,” he noted, adding that the freight forwarders are also working on how to send the stuck containers to Colombo port as early as possible.
Shipping circle people expressed concerns as similar types of incidents are occurring frequently in recent days, especially at the port jetty and at the outer anchorage.
According to them, on 29 May, a RORO ship was also hit by a barge but escaped any serious damage.
On 14 April, Haian City was damaged severely from the collision with an oil tanker in the Bay of Bengal, and until now it could not make sail again, as repairing its huge damage is taking a long time.
Sharar Nayel
Asia Correspondent
