C9/2001M Ms CINDY, Grounding in Aland on 17.9.2001

The Finnish cargo vessel M/S CINDY of 1740 gross, had departed in the evening on the 17th September 2001 from Turku to Aland in order to load cargo there. She grounded at 22:51 by the edge mark near Prästskär in the archipelago.

CINDY had a little earlier met in the fairway the small passenger ferry EJDERN on its way to archipelago village Sottunga. The navigators of the vessels had agreed upon how the meeting would take place. Due to the meeting CINDY overtook the waypoint to turn safely to the next fairway leg. In spite of the overtaking of the waypoint the master initiated the turn and tried to come to the planned fairway area east of Prästskär. There was no plotting of position before the initiation of turn. The master assumed that he could with a tight turn carry out the manoeuvre safely. The master knew the fairways in the area rather well but possibly due to fatigue estimated the situation incorrectly.

The grounding produced slight damage in the double bottom tanks but there were no personnel injuries. Although there was a leak in one fuel oil double bottom tank no pollution was observed. After the vessel had been floated off from the ground she was towed to a repair yard in Mariehamn.

C9/2001M Report (pdf, 0.68 Mt)