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The luxurious Seabourn Encore has collided with another vessel in port during high winds in New Zealand.
The incident happened in the harbour at Timaru, New Zealand where the Encore was berthed for the day as part of her inaugural 42-day voyage.
UPDATE
Seabourn has told us that the Encore has now sailed to her next port of call. Brian Badura, Director of Public Relations & Strategic Initiatives said: “Seabourn Encore was inspected and cleared to sail by authorities and departed for its next scheduled port call in Akaroa, New Zealand.” The line has confirmed no injuries were reported. Two investigators from the Transport Accident Commission have this morning flown from Wellington to Akaroa begin their investigation into what caused the Seabourn Encore collision.
The brand new vessel broke free of its mooring lines in high winds at approximately 3:00pm Sunday local time and was driven across the harbour. This remarkable footage of the Seabourn Encore collision was posted on YouTube by Corrina Worthington.
According to Radio New Zealand the Harbourmaster Jim Dilley said there were mooring issues with the ship. One witness described the sound of the lines snapping as being “like the noise of a shotgun”.
The incident happened so quickly that there wasn’t even time to retrieve the passenger gangway as the Encore came away from her berth. It was left dangling precariously over the water as the vessel was blown across the harbour.
The wind was so strong that despite the Encore’s officers engaging the stern thruster it was driven into another ship, the Milburn Carrier II, which was moored approximately 200m / 670ft away. Tug boats eventually stabilised the 40,350 ton Encore until the winds abated and she was able to be drought back along side the wharf.
Thankfully no one was injured in the incident, however the Encore was forced to remain in port while the damage was assessed. Both vessels sustained damage with the smaller Milburn Carrier II coming of worse – suffering a split in its ballastings.
Captain Mark Dexter of the Encore and the skipper of the Milburn Carrier II will both be interviewed by Maritime New Zealand as a matter of course and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission will investigate what caused the incident.
Many passengers were away on tours when the Seabourn Encore collision happened, only to return in the late afternoon to see the aftermath. All passengers are now back onboard.
About the Author: Jason Kerr
