Kiel Canal accident ship resumes service

The incident is the second such accident in weeks on Germany’s busy Kiel Canal. Nobiskrug Shipyard in Rendsburg on the Canal took two weeks to repair the bow damage and replace part of the bulbous bow. The 131.5m long

Saint George

collided with the main northern lock gate in Brunsbuettel in late March causing damage put at about €2 million. Reports said the ship almost cut the 1200 tonne gate in two.

Nobiskrug project head Jakob Rudolf said the damage on

Saint George

could be accessed and repaired by trimming without the need for dry-docking, saving time and money for her owners.

Repair chief Bernd Wittorf said the job was carried out at Nobiskrug because Lindenau Schiffswerft in nearby Kiel, a sister yard in the German Naval Yards (GNY) group, was full.

Just a few weeks earlier Lindenau repaired bow damage on the 1959dwt offshore dive support ship

Red7Alliance

after it collided with another main lock gate in Brunsbuettel – this one on the southern lock. Lindenau also came in for praise for reacting so swiftly to what owners called “our unexpected arrival and the initially unknown extent of the job”.

Canal spokesman Thomas Fischer in Brunsbuettel told

The Motorship

the lock gate damaged in the

Red7Alliance

collision had been temporarily repaired and was back in service. He said the gate damaged by

Saint George

is also still in Brunsbuettel waiting to go for repair and was being replaced by a reserve gate in May.