English Channel ferry warning as ships collide

Published on Tuesday 17 December 2002 00:00

MARINE investigators were yesterday trying to establish why the English Channel has become a maritime game of "dodgems" after three ships that should have passed in the night collided - twice.

One expert said that the accidents seemed laughable, but it was only a matter of time before there was a "loss of life".

Incompetent crew and lax safety were yesterday blamed for two collisions in three days. On Saturday, the large Norwegian vessel Tricolor - "the equivalent of a block of flats on its side" - was struck in fog off the French coast by Kariba, a Bahamas-registered container ship.

Tricolor sank with a 30 million cargo of 2,862 BMWs, Saabs, and Volvos.

And, at 12:40am yesterday, as it lay in 100 ft of water, it was struck again by another ship - Nicola, a 3,000-tonne German cargo vessel, which ended up perched on the wreck.

The empty ship, which is registered in the Dutch Antilles, had been travelling from La Coruna, in northern Spain, to the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

Colin Mulvana, of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: "We were broadcasting warnings and two vessels on site were like Christmas trees."

Two other experts expressed anger at the situation.

Phillip Belcher, of the Seafarers International Research Centre, said vessels were involved in near-misses up to 70 times a day in the channel. He said: "Low skills are often to blame."

Andrew Linington, of the National Union of Marine Aviation and Shipping Transport Officers, added: "Cost cutting and poor crews mean a passenger ferry crashing in the channel is not a matter of if, but when. "

Government statistics show 95 per cent of ship crashes are due to human error.

The channel is busy, but the collisions mystified one Scottish captain, who did not want to be named. He said: "If they don’t watch out down there, the merchant navy will become as good as the US and British navies for bumping into things. It’s like the dodgems. It took three tugs to get the Nicola off the sunken ship."

After the weekend accident, the Tricolor’s crew were rescued and taken to Dunkirk.

A French warship was last night acting as a warning beacon to other vessels passing the wreck. Bad weather has prevent more buoys being placed around the wreck.

Dutch firm Smit Salvage and a team of eight experts are in position about 20 miles from the Kent coast to check the Tricolor for oil leaks.

The Kariba was towed to Antwerp with its bow severely damaged.

After yesterday’s collision, the Nicola limped to Hamburg.