COLOMBIA

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Court ruling: Collision primarily fault of Colombia

The collision between the 'Colombia-Colombia II' and the tank barge 'Eiltank 65' (MMSI: 211513810)on the Volkerak on Jan 7, 2023, near Dinteloord was primarily the fault of the 'Colombia'. However, the Eiltank 65 was not entirely blameless and bears 15% of the blame, the Rotterdam District Court ruled. The vessels were sailing on opposite courses in the dark, with winds of force 5 and gusting to force 7. The 'Eiltank 65' struck the 202-meter long barge combination 'Colombia-Colombia II' almost amidships. At that moment, the barge was sailing in the wrong direction, in line with the 'Eiltank 65', and was simultaneously overtaken on starboard by another vessel. In the case brought by the owner of the 'Eiltank 65' against the 'Colombia', the latter was accused of being at fault for the collision. The 'Colombia' was not only sailing on the wrong side of the fairway, but also allegedly altered its course at the last moment in such a way that a collision became unavoidable and wrongly failed to yield right of way to the 'Eiltank 65'. Furthermore, the 'Colombia' failed to contact the radio or take any other measures to avoid the collision, according to the German company Eiltank. The Belgian owner of the 'Colombia' was invoking force majeure due to strong winds. In the event of force majeure, each party must bear its own damages. The owner of the 'Colombia' believed that both parties were 50% at fault for the collision. The Rotterdam District Court determined that there was no force majeure. In this case, the 'Colombia' is 85% at fault. This leaves Eiltank with a "minor contributory negligence" of 15%. The court based this assessment on several factors: While the wind was strong and the vessels were affected, it was not so strong that the collision was unavoidable. At the same time, it has not been established that the 'Colombia' indeed altered its course to port just before the collision. Eiltank did assert this, but did not substantiate it properly. Furthermore, under the circumstances, the 'Colombia' should have yielded to the right of way. This did not happen, according to the court. The court further argued that it was primarily up to the skipper of the 'Colombia' to contact his colleague on the 'Eiltank 65' by radio. This did not happen, and the 'Colombia' did not take any other precautions to prevent the collision. At the same time, the skipper of the'' Eiltank 65' could have foreseen the collision and contacted the 'Colombia' about it. Because this also did not happen, Eiltank bears a small portion of the blame. The hull damage, loss of time, and expert assessment costs amounted to over €96,000 for Eiltank. The owner of the 'Colombia' must pay 85% of this, or almost €81,700. The €56,300 already paid will be deducted from this, leaving an outstanding invoice of almost €25,400. This amount will be increased by the interest on several of the aforementioned amounts. There will also be an additional €7,000 in legal and collection costs. Because the 'Eiltank 65' was not entirely unscathed in the collision, some money must also be transferred in the opposite direction. The owner of the 'Colombia' will receive approximately €6,800 in damages, as well as approximately €2,000 in collection and legal costs.

Barge grounded on dam

On Dec 19, 2019, at 7 p.m. the 'Colombia', 3010 ts (EU-No.: 06004239) along with the barge 'Colombia II', 2600 ts (EU-No.: 06004240 ), ran onto a dam in the foreport of Hansweert at the entrance of the port on the Westerschelde, whilst coming from Antwerp. The damage seemed to be less than initally expected, although there was a small leak. The towing and salvage company Polderman from Hansweert deployed the tug 'Delta' to refloat the 'Colombia' which was moored in the southern foreport. Rijkswaterstaat carried out an inspection. Other ship traffic has not been affected. No spill, no inuries reported. Dutch report with photo: https://www.omroepzeeland.nl/nieuws/117095/Schip-vaart-op-havendam-Hansweert