PANAM SERENA

1st January 2004

EXPLOSION

 

 

VESSEL & Interveners

   
       
1 - IMO Number : 9282687 2 - Name of Ship : PANAM SERENA
3 - Call Sign : C6SY9 4 - Gross Tonnage : 6499
5 - Type of Ship : Chemical Tanker Ship 6 -Year of Build : 2003
7 - Flag : Bahamas 8 -Status of Ship : In Service
       
9 -   Registred Owner : LEANDER SHIPPING 10 - Address : 8, Smakkedalen, Gentofte DENMARK
11 - Ship Manager : COPENHAGEN TANKERS 12 - Address : 8, Smakkedalen, Gentofte DENMARK
13 - Classification Society : American Bureau of Shipping 14 - P&I Assuranceforeningen Gard - Norway
15 - Surveyor :   16 - Sollicitor :  
17 - Hull Underwriters :   18 - Cargo Underwriters :  
19 - Others :   20 - Others :  
     

NB : Information 1 to 14 are extracted from the database EQUASIS. Information are updated at the date of the casualty.

Information from 15 to 20 were found on public websites

 

SUMMARY OF THE CASUALTY
 

The explosion occured onboard the oil tanker the thursday 1st January 2004, in Porto Torres (Sardinia). The explosion happened during the discharging operations (benzene and fuel). Two crew members (23 and 39 year-old) are missing.

 

 

LOCATION
 

 

 
Agrandir le plan

 

 

DAY TO DAY  
   

Date :

  Source :  
 

Date :

6 January 2004 Source : Lloyd's List

 

PORTO Torres is expected to reopen for passenger and cargo vessels today following the end of operations to secure the stricken chemical carrier Panam Serena in the Sardinian port.

The tourist port has been closed since the beginning of the year when explosions ripped through the Bahamas-flag vessel, killing one crew member and leaving another missing.

"The wreck of the tanker is no longer any more dangerous than any other ship berthed along the quay," Roberto Cubeddu, port authority technical expert, told Italian newswire Ansa. "From a safety point of view we are back to where we were before the disaster."

Soren Halsted of the vessel's majority owner, Clipper Group, said the company had been advised that the 10,048 dwt vessel suffered three explosions. He also confirmed a report that the dead seafarer was found wearing breathing apparatus.

However, Mr Halsted said there was no evidence that this was as a result of a gas leak and the cause of the explosions on the six-month-old tanker is still unknown. There is still no news of the missing Latvian seafarer, Jaroslavs Petruhins, who is now presumed dead.

The Panam Serena is owned by a Bahamas-registered company two-thirds controlled by the Clipper Group and one-third by the vessel's Turkish builder Yardimci Group. Permission to board the vessel was only granted yesterday, as it took several days to extinguish a shoreside fire triggered by the explosions.

However, the local authorities were first to go aboard and the owner's representatives were only given the all-clear early yesterday evening.

Some reports have suggested that the Panam Serena , which developed a severe list, is lying on the seabed. However, Mr Halsted said he had received no indication that this was the case.

A diver's inspection had found no visible damage to the outside of the hull below the waterline.

Mr Halsted also said there were no reports of pollution to the surrounding waters.

Suggestions that neighbouring vessels may also have suffered some damage, along with the Panam Serena and terminal equipment, could not be confirmed.

The Panam Serena , classed by ABS and entered in the Gard P&I Club, was completing a voyage from Rotterdam and Dunkirk with two parcels of benzene, a carcinogen.

The first blast occurred around noon on New Year's Day as the vessel was discharging the highly flammable liquid.

The hull is insured for about $20m with cover led by Denmark's Tryg group.

While Sardinian tourism and freight traffic is not expected to suffer any further collateral damage from the Panam Serena accident, it has interrupted tanker discharging and has put the adjacent petrochemical plant out of action.

As a result, a large overland oil products transport operation is required to support the economy in the north of the island. While Porto Torres has been closed to traffic, vessels have been diverted to Olbia.

 

Date :

05 January 2004 Source :

Lloyd's List

 

ONE crew member died and another is missing following an explosion and fire on board the Bahamas flag chemical tanker Panam Serena while discharging in Porto Torres, Sardinia. A third member of the Russian and Latvian crew was taken to hospital after suffering minor injuries. The new 10,048 dwt Panam Serena has a 30° list and some observers fear the vessel could be a constructive total loss. The hull is insured for about $20m with cover led by Denmark’s Tryg group. The Panam Serena is owned by a Bahamas registered company controlled by the vessel’s Turkish builder Yardimci Group and Clipper Group. Commercial management of the vessel is in the hands of Copenhagen Tankers while BR Marine undertakes technical management. Soren Halsted, managing director of Clipper Denmark, said the fire on board the 2003-built tanker had been extinguished. Pollution was not expected to be an issue as the accident occurred when cargo discharge had almost been completed. Preparations were being made to remove bunker fuel from the vessel, Mr Halsted added. The Panam Serena, classed by ABS and entered in the Gard P&I club, was completing a voyage from Rotterdam and Dunkirk with two parcels of benzene, a carcinogen. The blast occurred around noon on New Year’s day as the vessel was discharging the highly flammable liquid. Mr Halsted said he had seen pictures of the Panam Serena and it did “not look good.” But he stressed that it was too early to speculate about the extent of the damage and whether the vessel would be a total loss. The cause of the explosion is not certain. However, Mr Halsted said an initial theory linked the explosion with cargo tank number six and a lowering of the pumping equipment’s speed as discharging wound down. A technical team was hoping to board on Saturday after the steel had cooled. The dead seafarer was Sergejs Cubajevskis, a 39-year-old Latvian, married and the father of two children. The missing seafarer is Jaroslavs Petruhins, also a Latvian and born in 1980. “We can only presume that the missing crewman has drowned,'' Mr Halsted said. Their families had been informed, he added. The Panam Serena, two-thirds owned by Clipper and one-third by Yardimci, is the fourth in a series of six ships. A fifth tanker is scheduled to be delivered by Yardimci this month, with the final vessel due in the summer. The first three were sold to Fouquet Sacop, a French coastal tanker and liquefied petroleum gas carrier operator. The so-called Clipper Leader series of vessels have different cargo tanks with individual pumps and lines in stainless steel, enabling the transport of 14 different types of oil or chemicals. The Yardimci yard in Tuzla has traditionally been associated with dry cargo vessels

 

CAUSE OF THE DAMAGE  
   

TBA

 

   
Sources :  
 

 

COSTS  

Hull :

TBA Cargo : TBA
Liability : TBA Fees : TBA
Others : TBA    
       

Sources :

     
 

 

PHOTOS  

The three first pictures are  © BR MARINE AS - The last one is downloaded from the CargoLaw web site

 

COMMENTS  
TBA

 

 

 

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