Cargo ships collide Aegean Sea

[Irish Rover]

According to local reports 2 cargo ships collided in Greek waters close to Samos Island. They're both anchored close together now off Kuşadası. Apparently both sustained damage but there's no indication how serious. The ships are the 107M Hesen M registered in Comoros [which I have to admit I never heard of] and the 55M Berk registered in Togo. We have a complete lock-down here from 21.00 Friday to 05.00 Monday so I can't get out for a nosey but if the forecast thunderstorms are not too bad tomorrow then I hope to satisfy my curiosity. The weather has been dry and clear here lately with excellent night vision so it's probably a case of sleeping on the job

 

[Bajansailor]

The Hesen M is 34 years old - https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ai...905/mmsi:620555000/imo:8507470/vessel:HESEN_M

Here is the Comoro Registry - they are located between Madagascar and Tanzanaia.
Home
I often think that (with yachts at least) yacht owners like to have a cool / sexy hailing port on their transom - look at Bikini in the Marshall Islands, and Bloody Bay in the Cayman Islands, both of which are very popular with yachts.
But the ports in the Comoros mentioned by the Registry are not very inspiring - Moroni and Mutsamudu.

The Berk (a rather unfortunate choice of name for those aware of the slang meaning in English) is anchored about 1 km away - she is also 34 years old.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ai...8250/mmsi:671273100/imo:8519942/vessel:CANSEL
Her photos show that in 2012 she was trading around Britain as the Hoo Dolphin.

Here is the Togo Registry (Togo is a country in West Africa)
International Registration Bureau | TOGO

Here is a brief report on the incident - no doubt the GCaptain, Maritime Executive et al will all be reporting on it in due course.
Cargo ships collided at Kusadasi anchorage, Turkey

 

[mm42]

Regarding ports of registration, Comoro is a fairly common one on large commercials, as with lots of other places it comes down to their usefulness as a flag of convenience rather than how nice their ports are.

 

[Irish Rover]

[QUOTE="Bajansailor, post: 7456433, member: 10705

The Berk (a rather unfortunate choice of name
[/QUOTE]
Berk is a very common boys name in Turkey and I believe both these vessels may be Turkish owned despite their exotic registrations.

 

[Neeves]

Sitting here in Sydney with our international borders effectively closed many place are becoming increasingly exotic,

Berk Chemicals was based in Stratford (east London) and then Basingstoke, bought by Steetley Plc I think Berk were big in sulphuric acid and had some involvement with Borax.

Jonathan

 

[Irish Rover]

Tittle tattle here is that the collision occurred in Greek waters off Samos but the captains agreed between them to divert to the Turkish side to report the accident and deal with the Turkish authorities rather than the Greek authorities as both ships are, apparently, Turkish owned. They're both anchored in a designated anchorage just north of Kuşadası.

 

[newtothis]

Tittle tattle here is that the collision occurred in Greek waters off Samos but the captains agreed between them to divert to the Turkish side to report the accident and deal with the Turkish authorities rather than the Greek authorities as both ships are, apparently, Turkish owned. They're both anchored in a designated anchorage just north of Kuşadası.

One is Turkish, the other one's beneficial owner is Lebanese.

 

[Irish Rover]

Both still anchored here.