On July 13th , at DP World Southampton, the gantry crane #6 collapsed in the early hours of the morning onto the NYK Themis while she was loading export cargo. As a result, all shipside and landside operations were suspended to allow the emergency services access to the scene of the accident.

The immediate concern was for the safety and recovery of personnel, and particularly the crane driver who suffered serious injuries. He was subsequently airlifted to Southampton hospital and at present we have no further news. The crew members onboard NYK Themis are safe, and there is no reported oil pollution or environmental damage.

By noon of the same day, landside services had resumed, and promptly returned to standard turnaround times.

The St Lawrence Coordinated Service (Hapag Lloyd and OOCL) took the decision to divert the M/V Ottawa Express to Thamesport for a discharge call only. She is expected in Southampton on Tuesday evening to complete her loading / export operations on Wednesday 15th.

During the same afternoon, NYK Themis was moved along to berth 204/205, to allow DP World to provide berths 206/207 for 2 ocean vessels while using berth 202 for transshipment / feeder operations.

NYK are still investigating which containers were affected by the falling crane, but we can confirm that ship power is still being supplied to the reefer containers on board. However it is not possible at this stage to ascertain the extent of damage to the cargo in bay 34. Once the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) permit cargo surveys, we will update you with the findings of our appointed surveyors.

At the time of writing we have no indication of the time frame for removal of the boom, nor resumption of loading operations and the expected time of sailing of the NYK Themis.

By 19.30 hrs yesterday shipside operations had resumed, with 2 berths, 6 gantry cranes and one mobile crane working under the authorisation of the HSE.

Today, the Grand Alliance expects to operate all services subject to berth availability at SCT.

For further information regarding ship movements in to and out of DP World Southampton, please contact OOCL Customer Service or refer to our online Vessel Information Board which will show the latest update.

We do apologise for the inconvenience caused by this accident and will continue to update affected parties on the ongoing situation.