A Taiwanese court has ordered Evergreen Marine Corporation (EMC) to pay compensation of US$1.38 million to the state-owned port owner Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC), in relation to the collision between its ship Uni-Premier and TIPC’s tug in August 2021.
At the time, the 2001-built 1,600 TEU Uni-Premier was preparing to berth and was being piloted.
The tug, TIPM No. 14402, was assigned to assist Uni-Premier and the collision damaged its starboard, resulting in water ingress that caused the tug to capsize. Crewmen on both vessels were unhurt.
The court said in its verdict on 5 September felt that the pilot made hasty manoeuvres and amid poor visibility caused by heavy rain, the Uni-Premier’s crew had not taken sufficient measures to avoid hitting the tug in Kaohsiung port.
In April 2023, Taiwan Transportation Safety Board (TTSB) released its investigation findings, stating that the pilot was insufficiently vigilant when monitoring the environment around the vessels.
TTSB said: “The manoeuvre in the harbour was slightly hasty, signifying that the pilot was unconfident about his navigational ability. Consequently, the instruction given to Tug 14402 prior to the incident was inadequate. No plan was made before Uni-Premier entered the port as to how the tug would assist with the manoeuvre. This ultimately led to the collision during berthing.”
Although heavy rain impaired visibility, neither Uni-Premier nor the tug used their radars to take measures to avoid a collision. Consequently, Uni-Premier made a rapid turn to starboard, hitting the tug and causing it to capsize..
Prior to the collision, Uni-Premier’s crew did not broadcast any warning or activate the sirens when the tug appeared. This went against international protocol for collision prevention, stating that vessels must blast warnings during low visibility.
Vessel traffic services (VTS) in the port also did not continuously monitor the status of both vessels and failed to provide adequate safety guidelines to the vessels.
TTSB recommended that TIPC enhance pilot training and VTS guidelines.
TIPC and its insurer sued EMC and the Uni-Premier captain, seeking a total of about US$3.02 million for loss of business and costs incurred in clearing the resulting oil spill. However, the court felt that EMC’s share of liability was about 40%.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
