Dutch sheerlegs joins salvage of collapsed crane at Port of Tyne
The floating sheerlegs Matador 3 has arrived in the Port of Tyne to assist in removing a quay crane that collapsed onto a container ship, in a salvage job complicated by the crane becoming entangled with the vessel's own gear. The accident happened on the afternoon of Sunday 19 July, when the departing installation vessel Wind Orca collided with the moored container ship BG Orange. The impact brought the container crane down onto the ship and injured one person, whose injuries were found not to be life-threatening after he was taken to hospital.
The area around the vessel was cordoned off for several days. The crane itself was severely damaged, as were a number of containers aboard BG Orange. The collision also released millions of plastic pellets, known as nurdles, into the water. They have been washing up on beaches in the surrounding area since. Port authorities said the pellets present a limited risk to public health but break down extremely slowly, and placed a boom around the ship to prevent further dispersal while a clean-up operation was organised.
Resolve Marine was engaged for the salvage itself. The plan requires the crane's boom to be cut into sections before it can be lifted clear of the ship, which is where the Dutch heavy-lift capacity comes in. Matador 3 sailed from the Netherlands on Monday 27 July and arrived at the northeast English port on Wednesday 29 July. Lifting a partially cut structure off a loaded container vessel demands precise load control, because the weight distribution changes as each section is separated and the ship beneath must remain stable throughout.
The complication is that the crane and the ship are locked together rather than simply resting one on the other. That rules out a single clean lift and forces a sequence in which cutting and lifting alternate, with each cut assessed for how it will redistribute stress in what remains. Work of this kind is normally carried out with the vessel immobilised and the surrounding berths kept clear, which extends the operational disruption well beyond the ship directly involved.
The incident is a reminder of how exposed quayside infrastructure is to vessel movements in confined port water. An installation vessel and a container ship are both large, and the margins during a departure manoeuvre are narrow. The consequences here ran from a personal injury and a wrecked crane through to an environmental clean-up along a stretch of coastline, none of which follow obviously from a single contact between two hulls. Investigations into the collision itself are separate from the salvage, which is expected to keep the berth out of use for some time yet.
