Statement by SANTA TERESA ship-owner Hamburg Süd regarding so-called “near miss” of sailing yacht “Team Plastique” and the SANTA TERESA
Hamburg Süd has investigated the allegations described and closely questioned the ship’s command of the SANTA TERESA.
At the time of the incident, at around 1600 hrs, the captain was on the bridge in addition to the officer of the watch. The sailing yacht “Team Plastique” had been visible on the SANTA TERESA’s radar units for some time, the radar image showing a probable passing distance of 0.7 nautical miles or 1,300 m. The speed of the SANTA TERESA was 21.5 kn, visibility 4-5 nautical miles.
Delivered in 2011, the SANTA TERESA is a state-of-the-art newbuilding of the 7,100 TEU Santa class. All the bridge equipment was in perfect working order and in operation, that is to say, both radar units, both VHF sets on Channel 16, as well as the AIS and voyage data recorder (VDR).
The sailing yacht “Team Plastique” was received with her AIS data the entire time by the SANTA TERESA, both as target on the ARPA radar units and as text on the actual AIS device.
Although there was no danger of collision at any point, even if both vessels had maintained their course, the SANTA TERESA changed course by 7-8 degrees to starboard to give the sailing yacht more space. Owing to the safety drill taking place at the time, as every Friday, several crew members were on the SANTA TERESA’s poop deck. They consistently reported that the passing distance of the “Team Plastique” astern of the SANTA TERESA’s poop deck was far greater than the 100 metres stated.
According to the ship’s command, at no time was the SANTA TERESA called on VHF (USW) Channel 16.
We know from long experience that encounters between large vessels and small ones are judged differently by the respective ship’s commands. We can therefore well appreciate that Mr Alessandro di Benedetto must have felt very uneasy in the situation described.
We wish to stress that we employ well-trained and professional ship’s commands on all our vessels and that this incident was in no way a “near miss”, since the passing space was sufficient at all times.
