Stena Line Ferry Collides with Tanker

Business & Finance

July 20, 2015

Stena Line’s Ro-Pax vessel Stena Jutlandica carrying 600 people on board collided with a Danish-flagged tanker outside Gothenburg, on Sunday morning, Swedish Coast Guard informed.

The tanker, identified as Ternvind, operated by Terntank, had 13 crew members on board who are all reported to be safe.

The ferry sustained a considerable blow in the crash, which saw the vessel’s hull being punctured allowing for water ingress. However, there have been no injuries reported.

Despite the fact that the ferry was taking on water from the hole in the hull, Stena Jutlandica proceeded to the Port of Gothenburg on its own where it is now berthed.

“It was the tanker that hit us, not the other way around,” Niclas Mårtensson, deputy CEO of Stena Line told the TT news agency.

Swedish Coast Guard has since dispatched vessels on the location in case of an oil spill. Initial reports show that no oil has yet leaked from any of the vessels, which has been confirmed by one of the Swedish Coast Guard’s Sea Surveillance Aircraft overflying the area.

The tanker is anchored on a position sheltered from the winds up to 15 meters per second. The tanker carries a load of 12 000 tons of diesel and petrol. First response divers from the Swedish Coast Guard are about to inspect the hull for further decisions on how to handle the vessel.

““I think it’s too early to speculate about what happened,” Tryggve Möller, chairman of the board of Terntank is quoted as saying by local media as saying. “We have the police and the Coast Guard who are looking into it.”

An investigation into the incident has been launched and it involves the Coast Guard in cooperation with the Swedish Police, the Swedish Board of Transportation and with the local authorities, as well with the shipping companies involved.