Barge collides with container ship near Antwerp, two men overboard

A serious maritime incident occurred on the River Scheldt near the Marlemon Anchorage, just beyond the Bath bend, at approximately 14:15 on Friday, 30 May. The departing container vessel Containerships Nord, collided with the inland tanker Beringzee.

Footage released after the incident shows the smaller inland vessel being overpowered by the much larger container ship. According to Flows, two individuals fell overboard as a result of the collision; one was taken to the hospital for treatment. The Beringzee sustained serious damage, began taking on water, and had to be stabilised by two other barges to remain afloat.

After the collision, the Containerships Nord, measuring 170m in length and 27m in beam, was able to sail under its own power and is currently at anchor pending further inspection.

With a capacity of 1,400 TEU, the Containerships Nord was the first LNG-powered container ship in the CMA CGM Group fleet. The vessel was deployed on the Group’s intra-European services following its delivery.

CMA CGM acquisition
CMA CGM completed its acquisition of Finnish company Containerships on 31 October 2018 as part of a strategic move to strengthen its presence in the intra-European market. Founded in 1966, Containerships specialised in container transport within Europe and had a strong operational footprint in the Baltic region, Russia, Northern Europe, North Africa, and Turkey. In April 2019, CMA CGM consolidated the Containerships and MacAndrews brands under the unified Containerships name, aiming to create a leading multimodal transport brand for the European market.