Greek owner Costamare is not commenting on the engine room fire that has taken a neo-panamax container ship out of play at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal.
But Lubeck-based Oldendorff Carriers said one of its open-hatch handysize bulkers suffered just a scrape on the bow when it was struck by the out-of-control boxship.
Videos and photos circulated this week after Costamare’s 11,010-teu Cape Kortia (built 2017) passed under the Bridge of the Americas at Balboa with black smoke pouring from its funnel and allided with the 38,600-dwt Ernst Oldendorff (built 2015), which was discharging at the Rodman terminal, having passed through the old Miraflores locks.
The Costamare container ship is on charter to MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company.
Panama Canal Authority officials said quick action by pilots and their tugs averted a major incident that could have blocked the waterway, controlling the ship until the fire could be extinguished.
AIS records show the Cape Kortia has been berthed at the nearby PSA Panama International Terminal since the incident.
The Ernst Oldendorff is now in the anchorage awaiting passage back through the canal.
“We cannot provide any comment,” Costamare chief financial officer Gregory Zikos told TradeWinds.
The Cape Kortia is insured by the Swedish Club and the Ernst Oldendorff by Gard.
“Our P&I club has requested to have a look, but we don’t know if it is serious enough to make an insurance claim,” Oldendorff communications director Scott Jones told TradeWinds
“It’s mostly paint. There was no water ingress. There may have been some indentation. But it’s comparable to a vessel berthing and bumping against the dock.”
Costamare and Oldendorff last made headlines together in October when the Greek owner raided Lubeck to hire staff for its new dry-bulk operating business, now populated by Oldendorff veterans.
Jones said Oldendorff has no hard feelings about that.
“The bulker and container ship businesses are completely unrelated anyway,” he said.
