Dover Seaways ferry accidents and incidents

CruiseMapper's Dover Seaways ferry cruise ship accidents, incidents and law news reports relate to a 1000-passenger vessel owned by DFDS SEAWAYS (Ferries). Our Dover Seaways ferry accidents page contains reports made by using official data from renown online news media sources, US Coast Guard and Wikipedia.

Here are also reported latest updates on cruise law news related to ashore and shipboard crimes still investigated by the police. Among those could be arrests, filed lawsuits against the shipowner / cruise line company, charges and fines, grievances, settled / withdrawn legal actions, lost cases, virus outbreaks, etc.

pier collision/allision - 2014 (Dover, England UK)

In the period 2005-2010, the vessel was operated under the name "Maersk Dover" by Norfolkline (Maersk-owned shipping company, acquired by DFDS Seaways in July 2010.

09 November 2014Ship Collision / Allision

On November 9, 2014, at ~8 am, the ship collided with the breakwater's end (harbor wall) upon leaving homeport Dover (England) and en-route to Dunkirk (France). The ferry was carrying a total of 320 passengers. Several passengers and crew sustained minor injuries and were treated at the ship's infirmary. Four passengers were medevaced to a land hospital.

The accident resulted in severe forward hull damage - to the bulbous bow and bow apron (aka "cow catcher"). The ship returned to its berth without tugboat assistance. According to the MAIB investigation report (2015), breakwater contact was due to loss of directional control when the ferry turned towards the harbor’s eastern entrance. Its engines were at "full astern" and the starboard anchor was released, but these actions failed to prevent the collision (at speed 6,5 kph / 4 mph). The loss of control was due to mode change in the steering system. The change was not intentionally initiated and remained unexplained. Navigation Bridge response was positive, but the officers' action to stop the vessel was too late.

Note: Actually, this type of marine accident is called “allision” (striking a fixed object) as opposed to “collision” (striking another vessel).

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