A China-flagged barge carrier, which was involved in an incident a couple of weeks ago when it made contact with a gantry crane on berth W20 while berthing at Keelung Port, got disabled off the coast of Cape Yehliu in Taiwan due to severe weather and strong winds and was abandoned as a result.
The Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration personnel rescued all 17 crew members of the ship, after the captain announced that the vessel was being abandoned.
According to the coast guard, the ship was affected by the strong winds and sea currents as Typhoon Kong-rey approached.
The operation was complicated by rough seas and made it more difficult as the ship was carrying three gantry cranes.
The Coast Guard also calls on fishing boats and cargo ships to pay attention to weather information before going to sea.
The ship was involved in another incident a couple of weeks ago. It made contact with a gantry crane on berth W20 while berthing at Keelung Port on October 14 at about 1407 hours, the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) said last week in its initial press release.
According to TTSB, the occurrence caused damage to 1 gantry crane on the ground and 1 gantry crane onboard. No injury or oil pollution reported in this incident.
The TTSB didn’t unveil the cause of the incident. An investigator-in-charge was assigned, and a team was launched to conduct the investigation.
