The powerful Typhoon Meranti sweeping across southern Taiwan has broken the moorings from up to 10 ships at CSBC Corp’s yard, causing one newbuild 14,000-teu boxship to go adrift and hit a container terminal in Kaohsiung port, local reports said.
The CSBC-built containership YM Wind drifted along the water during the storm and sent two gantry cranes crashing down in container terminal number 6 operated by Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp before the vessel was brought under control by several tug boats.
The newbuild was supposed to be delivered to its charterer in March-April 2017 but delivery will now be postponed due to the damage.
The shipbuilder CSBC said all the 10 vessels that had broken loose from the moorings were secured.
Yesterday evening, Typhoon Meranti packed gusts of up to 227 kilometres per hour and speeds of 17 knots per hour, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau.
Several containers stacked in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District were also blown over and toppled due to the strong winds.
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