COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A Chinese vessel carrying fertilizer and heavy fuel collided with a German cargo ship off northwestern Denmark on Monday, the Danish navy said.
Navy spokesman Kenneth Nielsen said no one was injured in the accident but that the Hong Kong-flagged Cleantec was listing and its 24-man crew was ready to be evacuated.
He said the Cleantec, which was carrying 30,000 tons of fertilizer and 1,000 tons of fuel oil, has a 23-foot (7-meter) gash in its side but that for now there were no worries about the vessel sinking.
"The captain (on Cleantec) said he was hopeful about the situation," Nielsen said, adding the ship would be towed to a Danish port later Monday. "The shipper will then decide what to do with the cargo."
The Danish navy originally said that the vessel was carrying 10,000 tons of fuel oil but later revised the figure downward.
The Cleantec left from Klaipeda, Lithuania, with a cargo of potash — a fertilizer ingredient critical to global food supply — and was headed to the port of Paranagua in Brazil.
The other ship, Frisia Rotterdam, which was slightly damaged at the stern, was traveling from the Danish port of Aarhus to Bremerhaven, Germany.
The navy said three environmental ships were headed for the site in the North Sea some 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Copenhagen.
