Karachi Port Trust (KPT) has ordered board of investigation comprised senior officers to probe the two-ship collision incident. According to details, on March 19, 2018 at 1334 hours, Container Vessel (CV) Tolten came in contact with CV Hamburg Bay berthed at berth No.3 while maneuvering to anchor at berth No 4 at South Asia Pakistan Terminals (SAPT).
Initial course of investigation confirmed that over two dozen containers fell overboard after the said incident, of which, three to four containers were reportedly imported to Karachi while rest of the others were said to be the Afghan Transit consignments, sources said; adding that details related to the damages and description of goods were yet to be confirmed and the survey in this regard was expected to be completed on March 21, 2018 (today).
Meanwhile, SAPT said that there was no suspension of operations at the terminal and the CV Hamburg bay would complete operation at midnight at 0000 hrs on March 20, 2018. The CV Tolten came alongside (berth No. 4) at 1940 hrs on March 19 and operations commenced at 0419 hrs after completion of damage survey and is expected to complete by 0000 hrs on March 21. Similarly, the KPT has deployed all available resources for surveying the channel and retrieving containers from water in assistance with SAPT.
The KPT in its official statement stated that board of investigation comprised senior officers has been ordered while operations at SAPT were ongoing as per normal after a little pause, due to post berthing accident. The KPT also confirmed that MV Tolten after disembarking containers was scheduled to leave harbor on March 20 midnight whereas MV Hamburg was also expected to depart as per planned schedule.
Moreover, it said that containers which fell overboard had been located and were being recovered from sea; adding that Pakistan Navy diving team and other assets were also rendering assistance to KPT in recovering the sunken containers and port operations at KPT and SAPT were being undertaken as per normal.