A large container ship, which began drifting after it came loose from its moorings, rammed into a crane in the port of Antwerp on Monday, causing it to collapse and wreaking havoc in Belgium's largest port.
The APL Mexico City container ship broke free from its attachments, drifting in the waters and eventually crashing onto a container crane at around 1:45 PM on Monday afternoon. The incident happened in the Deurganck dock in the Waasland Port, a part of Antwerp's port located on the left bank of the river Scheldt.
The crane collapsed as a result of the impact from the 328-metre long ship, landing in the water in an incident which sent port workers in a frenzy but which resulted in no injuries, according to the PSA container handler company, cited in Le Soir.
Videos of the incident show the moments in which the ship collided with the crane, followed with its collapse onto the water, in an incident which took place in difficult weather conditions.
Containerschip tegen havenkraan in#waaslandhaven pic.twitter.com/UEGr28lz6L
— Johan Steegmans (@JSteegmans) December 9, 2019
At around 8:00 PM on Monday, port staff were still attempting to bring the ship under control, and managed to secure it again using several tugboats, reports De Standaard.
DP World, the crane operator, said that there were no activities going on under the affected crane, and nobody was injured. On quay 1700, the zone of the accident was evacuated and its operations were temporarily halted, according to Gazet van Antwerpen.
The Brussels Times
