Haian City ship owner declares general average, concerned about cargo destruction in 180 containers

The owner of the container ship Haian City declared general average, when the ship docked at Karnaphuli for damages repair.

Container ship Haian City

Container ship Haian City (Photo: Thedailystar)

The owner of the 1,400-TEU container ship Haian City - which crashed on April 14 - claimed general average, as the ship docked at Karnaphuli for damages repair.

When a shipowner declares general average, all stakeholders will proportionately share any losses incurred due to the incident.

The container ship was severely damaged and lost an empty container at sea that has yet to be found after almost a month. Since then, the ship has been anchored to the site of the incident with the risk of sinking amid severe weather.

The ship operator, Samudera Shipping Line, said that the ship owner, Hai An Transport and Stevedoring Joint Stock Company, declared general average (GA) on April 28 and appointed the Maritime Claims Office of Asia Pte Ltd as the general average adjusters.

“A salvage plan involving patching the vessel was put in place to re-enter the Chittagong Port as the port of refuge,” Samudera said on May 4 that Haian City is moored at Karnaphuli Dry Dock to carry out operations temporary unloading for the patching and repairing of the ship.

“Cargo will require discharging in part or in full to effect repairs, while salvage operations are ongoing subject to owners’ class approval for subsequent voyage completion,” the operator said. said.

According to a statement, the Haian City suffered severe damage to its hull plating and deck in cargo holds 4 and 5.

Golam Sarwar, chief executive officer of Prantik Bengal Salvage and Diving, which carried out the salvage operation, said the 180 containers were filled with water as they remained submerged for more than 20 days since the collision.

After bringing the vessel to the Karnaphuli Dry Dock, 148 20' containers have been unloaded and damage repair works are underway.

Sarwar added that it will take nearly a month to complete the repairs and then the ship will be able to go to Singapore after unloading the containers that have been unloaded at the wharf.

Officials said the Vietnamese-flagged transshipment vessel carried 1,156 TEUs, including 661 containers containing goods, mainly garments, to Europe and the Americas. They fear that the $25 million worth of cargo may have been damaged because the cargo has been in the water for a long time.

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