Maersk Shekou demasts STS Leeuwin & injures crew

Tall ship Leeuwin dismasted in container ship crash off Fremantle, The Guardian, 30 August 2024

Two night watchmen taken to hospital after three-masted 1850s-style sailing ship hit by 332-metre vessel.

A screengrab from the ABC of the damaged Leeuwin tall ship after the Maersk Shekou container ship crashed into it at Fremantle Port. Photograph: ABC News.

A container ship has dismasted the tall ship Leeuwin and clipped a portside museum building while attempting to berth in Fremantle.

Two workers aboard Australia’s largest sail-training tall ship, which has an overall length of 55 metres, were taken to hospital.

Fremantle Ports said the 332-metre container vessel was coming into the port to berth about 6.30am on Friday when it hit the three-masted 1850s-style tall ship, which is used for sailing training for young people.

The Leeuwin tall ship at Fremantle Harbour in Western Australia in July, prior to the crash. Photograph: Andrea Hayward/AAP.

“It’s a terrible incident … the two fellows who were on night watch on the Leeuwin they’ve been taken to hospital,” the Fremantle Ports spokesperson, Neil Stanbury, told Perth radio station 6PR.

“One may have minor injuries, perhaps a broken arm, but they’re both OK, and we’re very glad about that.”

Stanbury said Leeuwin had been dismasted but the hull remained intact.

“It’s a pretty messy scene,” he said.

He said the container ship, the Maersk Shekou, had also struck the Western Australian Maritime Museum.

The ABC reported that the Maersk Shekou had encountered sudden bad weather before the collision. An investigation has been launched into the incident.

“At the moment, we’re not clear on what has happened,” the Fremantle Ports CEO, Jodie Ransom, said.

Jay Weatherill, the Leeuwin Ocean Adventure Foundation chairman, told the ABC the tall ship would not be sailing “anytime soon”.

“You can see that there’s obviously been catastrophic damage to the mast and the rigging,” he said.