An undocking accident at Spain’s Valencia port caused one of
the terminal’s cranes to collapse injuring one port worker and briefly
disrupting port operations. The port later sent it best wishes for a quick
recovery to the crane operator while also saying normal operations had resumed
at the port.
While the details of the accident are unclear, apparently
the MSC containership MSC Mia was undocking when it somehow caught part of the
crane. The crane operator was able to sound an alarm warning people before the
crane tumbled. That worker was being credited by the port in a Tweet for his
actions but was also reported to have been injured and taken to a local
hospital.
News of the accident came as the port was celebrating its
strong growth in operations. In August, Valencia reported that it had become
the first Spanish port to handle more than 500,000 TEUs in a single month.
Traffic increased more than seven percent at the port with better than a two
percent increase in the tons of goods moving through Valencia. The port
authority highlighted the results as a demonstration of their growth and
recovery from the pandemic. They said it reaffirms the recovery trend observed
in June and July.
Valencia highlighted a strong growth in export volumes while
imports were down slightly in the month. They also reported a strong growth in
the number of vessel calls, reaching 752 his year versus 666 in August 2019.
This growth was achieved while the cruise industry is paused and ferry volumes
remain low due to travel restrictions from the pandemic. Also ro-ro traffic is
off by a third for the full year but Valencia noted that there were seeing a
moderation in the declines during August.
Port officials said they are optimistic that the strong
results in August are a sign of the beginning of an economic recovery in the
world’s main economies.