News / Ship's captain arrested after cargo ship collision with tanker

A 59-year-old man has been arrested, on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, in connection with the collision yesterday between an oil tanker and container vessel in the UK’s North Sea.

One member of the box ship’s crew is still unaccounted for and has been presumed dead.

The fire that broke out aboard the US-flagged MV Steena Immaculate was reported as having been extinguished earlier today, but the blaze aboard the Portuguese-flagged, 800 teu box ship Solong was still raging as this story went to press, with suggestions that the expectation was that the vessel would soon sink.

Of the 14 sailors aboard the Portuguese vessel, 13 have been accounted for, with the UK’s minister for aviation, maritime and security, Mike Kane, having told parliament the assumption now was that the missing seaman had died.

Humberside Police, working in collaboration with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, confirmed that they had opened a criminal investigation into the incident, with sailors aboard the tanker having described a vessel “coming out of nowhere” shortly before their ship was struck.

The police said the 59-year-old had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter, with DetCSupt Craig Nicholson confirming: “Extensive work has already been carried out, and we’re working closely with our partners to understand what happened, and to provide support to all of those affected. The man arrested remains in custody at this time whilst enquiries are under way, and we continue speaking with all those involved to establish the full circumstances of the incident.”

The tanker, managed by Crowley in the US, arrived from the Greek port of Agioi Theodoroi with 220,000 barrels of jet fuel onboard, owned by the US government which had chartered the ship.

Crowley said in a statement on X the vessel sustained a ruptured cargo tank. Some fuel is now in the North Sea.

The cargo ship was operating a service between Grangemouth and Rotterdam. 

Xeneta’s chief analyst, Peter Sand, said: “It is vitally important that the industry works together to learn lessons from this incident once the cause is fully investigated and understood,” he urged.  

There’s a fascinating article on the challenges of being a seafarer on coastal routes in TradeWinds, well worth a read.