The Maersk Gustav has touched some rocks of the Calabrian coast, in front of Scilla between the night of 9 and 10 January 2017. No damage was reported to the ship and/or the crew. Even in the third millennium, with radar and satellite navigation, the rocks of Scilla can represent a danger even for large container ships.
The Maersk Gustav, 99 thousand tons of tonnage and 300 meters long, at two o’clock in the morning of January 10 has run aground in the rocks of Torre Cavallo, in the province of Reggio Calabria. According to the Coast Guard, the accident occurred after the transit in the Strait of Messina for reasons not yet clarified. The Capitaneria di Gioia Tauro has started an investigation into the dynamics of the accident. In particular, it must be understood why the ship, after having crossed the Strait of Messina, has tacked going to impact on the rocks. Human error is not excluded.
While the ship was approaching the coast in a dangerous way, continues the Coast Guard, the VTS Center of Messina has lost contact with the commander of the <strong>Maersk Gustav</strong> to remind him to respect the rules of navigation of the Strait: “<em>The command on board, after giving consent to what was required by the VTS, tried to implement the necessary measures to prevent any dangerous situations, without succeeding in the intent. In fact, after a few minutes the ship ran aground.
The Operations Room of the port of Messina sent to the rescue two tugboats, <strong>Grifone</strong> and <strong>Macistone</strong>, two patrol boats, land patrols and an anti-pollution ship Castalia Ievoli Red, to avert any risks to the environment. Subsequently, the crew of the container carrier found that there were no tears, removed the ballast on board to lighten the bow and allowed the tugs to release the ship.
At 7:30 a.m. the Gustav was disincagliata and continued navigation autonomously to the port of Gioia Tauro, where the administrative investigation began on the causes of the accident and further technical checks to the hull.
