Freight News, Sea


Grangemouth feeder ship collides with tanker – Russian captain arrested

[ March 10, 2025   //   ]

A containership en route from Grangemouth to Rotterdam has collided with an products tanker carrying aviation fuel off the East Yorkshire coast near Withernsea, leaving both vessels ablaze at about 09.48, Monday 10 March.

One cargo crew member from the containership is still unaccounted for and the search has now been called off. Another seaman has been reported to be hospitalised but the other 36 are reported to be safe and well.

The collision occurred between the Madeira-flagged 7,852gt Solong and US-flagged tanker MV Stena Immaculate, the latter reported to being at anchor at the time of the incident.

Humberside Police said that a criminal investigation into the cause of the collision is under way, in conjunction with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and the captain of the Solong, reported to be a Russian national, has been arrested.

Film footage showed both vessels to be ablaze. The Solong’s cargo was earlier reported to include 15 containers of sodium cyanide, but this was later refuted by the owners who said that it contained four empty tank containers that had previously held the chemical.

In a statement, Crowley, which manages the Stena Immaculate through a joint venture with owner Stena Bulk USA said the vessel was part of the US Maritime Administration (MARAD)’s Tanker Security Program. It was anchored while it awaited berth availability at the Port of Killingholme while under charter on this voyage for the Military Sealift Command to make a standard delivery of fuel as part of a routine service under this program when it was struck.  

Ports in the Humber Estuary, including Immingham, Grimsby, Hull and Goole reopened on Monday evening after but operations remain restricted, said an ABP spokesperson.

Maritime intelligence platform Pole Star Global said that In the year leading up to the accident the Solong operated between Rotterdam , Hull, Grangemouth and Tilbury and before March 2024 operated between Barcelona, travelling through the English Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar. The vessel also visited Slovenia, Dublin, Antwerp and Lisbon.

The only technical issue flagged was a four day period of non-AIS reporting in September in Netherlands waters.

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