M.v."Eems Cobalt" inbound Eemshaven 16/11/2018.

Casualty.
On Nov 15, 2018, at 9.30 p.m. the Turkish cargo m/v "Paksoy 1" enroute from the Netherlands to St. Petersburg and the "Eems Cobalt", which was underway from Delfzijl to Pasajes about 25 kilometers NW of Borkum island, west of buoy TG-1 in the TSS „Terschelling – German Bight“. The Central Command or Maritime Emergencies in Cuxhaven took over at 11 p.m. The 'Paksoy 1" was stuck with its bow in the starboard side foreship of the "Eems Cobalt" which suffered water ingress. A boarding team of four went on board to support the crew. The lifeboat "Alfried Krupp" took over the On-Scene-Command afte rits arrival at 11 p.m. Also the emergency tug "Nordic" which reached the site shoprt before midnight, joined by the "Bad Bramstedt" of the German Federal Police and the muli purpose ship "Neuwerk". Neither the crew of 16 aboard the "Paksoy 1" nor the five men aboard the "Eems Cobalt" suffered injureis. The ferry "Stena Foreteller" interrupted the voyage from Immingham to Cuxhaven and went on standby in case someone would have to be taken off. There were no hazardous goods on board of both ships. The "Eems Cobalt" had on board 1.800 tons magnesium carbonate, the "Paksoy 1" wa ballasting. A Do 228 surveillance aircraft was deployed to detect any pollution. Durnig the night both ships, remaining entangled into eahc other, drifted in NNW direction towards the open sea. The water ingress of the "Eems Cobalt" could be controlled with the ship's own pumps. The leak was above the waterline, and there was no danger of sinking. After it became clear that no people were in distress, the on scene command was transferred to the traffic control German Bight with the "Neuwerk" as On-Scene-Coordinator.The Wagenborg-tugs "Waterstroom" and "Watergeus" proceeded to the accident side in order to pull the "Paksoy 1" out of the "Eems Cobalt". In the second attempt the "Waterstroom" freed the shuo after the ballasting of both involved freighters had been changed. The bulbous bow of the "Paksoy 1" was significantly bent to the side due to the impact. Both ships had to remain at the accident site for safety investigations. The exclusion zone which had been established three miles around the vessels was lifted in the morning. Still on scene were the "Neuwerk", "Nordic", the lifeboat "Harro Koebke", the tugs "Waterstroom" and "Watergeus" as well the "Bad Bramstedt".( source: Vesseltracker.com.)