UPDATEIn the night from Thursday to Friday, the fire brigade, police, ambulance service, KNRM and Rijkswaterstaat en masse to a collision on the Dordtse Kil. There, shortly before midnight, an inland vessel and a coaster collided.
It concerns the 101-metre-long Dutch coaster A2b Ambition, which was en route with containers from Moerdijk to England, and the 110-metre-long German inland vessel Zimmers Gambit, which was en route with a load of ore towards Moerdijk. At the height of industrial area Dordtse Kil 4 and the ‘s-Gravendeel hamlet of De Wacht, they crashed on top of each other for unknown reasons.
According to a spokesperson for the fire service, the consequences appear to be minor. Both ships can continue their way under their own power. No cargo ended up in the water. The crew of the Zimmers Gambit is being checked by paramedics just to be safe.
Out of sight of traffic control center
The site of the collision is just out of sight of the Dordrecht traffic control center of Rijkswaterstaat, which guides shipping on the rivers near Dordrecht with information. In the past, in particular, the municipalities of Brabant have repeatedly argued in favor of extending this guidance using video, radar and VHF radio to the Hollands Diep, but this is mainly because commercial shipping and inland shipping intersect there.
Collisions between professional ships are certainly rare on the well-arranged Dordtse Kil. In May 2018, the large Belgian tanker Somtrans XIII crossed the French inland vessel Coxswain. A French skipper couple barely managed to save themselves.
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