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Investigation revealed a textbook case of how small breakdowns can quickly snowball into disaster
The allision of the 'Hafnia Nile', now sailing as 'Hafnia Shannon', with the in the anchored VLCC 'Ceres I' (IMO: 9229439), which was carrying roughly 300,000 barrels of naphtha bound for Japan, at about 6:02 a.m. on July 19, 2024, in the South China Sea, has revealed a chain of failures involving crew fatigue, disabled safety systems, and inadequate watchkeeping according to the final report, which Singapore’s Transport Safety Investigation Bureau released on Dec 28, 2025, calling the accident a “very serious marine casualty.” After the allision, fires broke out on both ships, fuel and cargo were lost, one crew member was killed and two others were injured. The officer of the watch on the 'Hafnia Nile' had joined the ship only hours earlier after flying overnight from Colombo via Kuala Lumpur. He had boarded the tanker at noon, barely had time to settle in, and then took over the midnight-to-6 a.m. watch. He had less than two hours of uninterrupted rest over a 38.5-hour stretch before taking the bridge. Even that brief rest was cut short by an unannounced fire alarm test. By the final hour of his watch, when the allision occurred ,he was likely operating on fumes. The report concluded that fatigue “may have reduced his alertness and affected his performance and judgement” as the developing close-quarters situation unfolded. In addition, both of the 'Hafnia Nile'’s radars had their collision-avoidance alarms either silenced or completely switched off. The S-band system’s CPA and TCPA alerts were muted, while the X-band alarms were disabled altogether. The iinvestigators noted that this removed a key layer of protection that might have warned the bridge team as the tanker closed in on the 'Ceres I' and another vessel nearby. At exactly the wrong moment, the officer of the watch stepped out of the wheelhouse to work on paperwork in the chartroom, leaving only an able seafarer at the helm. The ship was threading through a gap of just 0,7 nautical miles between the anchored tanker and another vessel on a southwesterncourse. The bridge team of the 'Ceres I' first spotted the 'Hafnia Nile' when it was still more than six nautical miles away and judged the risk as low. As the distance shrank, they tried flashing lights and sounding the ship’s horn, but never attempted to raise the approaching tanker on VHF radio. The 'Ceres I'’s safety management system didn’t clearly spell out how to communicate with an oncoming ship in a close-quarters situation while at anchor. In July 2025, the Singapore authorities had charged two crew members of the 'Hafnia Nile' under the Merchant Shipping Act. The officer in charge was accused of failing to properly assess the risk and maintain situational awareness. The lookout allegedly saw the ships closing in but did not report it. The tanker’s operating company has since overhauled its safety practices, including requiring navigation watchkeepers to rest in hotels before joining ships, banning administrative work on the bridge unless a proper lookout is maintained, and rolling out surprise bridge audits throughout 2025. Singapore also issued three formal safety recommendations: keep radar alarms active, reinforce bridge manning standards, and provide clearer guidance on how to communicate during close-quarters situations. At the time of the incident, the 'Ceres I' was suspected of transporting sanctioned Iranian oil. The USA imposed sanctions on the 'Ceres I' in Dec 2024 as part of a broader crackdown on entities and vessels involved in transporting Iranian oil to international market. OFAC alleged that the vessel, owned by the Hong Kong-based Ceres Shipping Ltd., was involved in a significant STS transfer of nearly 300,000 metric tons of Iranian crude oil near Singapore in Jan 2024.
Two men charged after collision
Two men were charged in a Singapore court on July 2, 2025, under the Merchant Shipping Act over the collision of tthe 'Hafnia Nile', now sailing as 'Hafnia Shannon', with the 'Ceres 1' on July 19, 2024, in which one man was killed and another was badly injured. Soosai Antony Vainer, 35, and a Sri Lankan, Wickramage Viraj Amila Shavinda Perera, 40, were the two crew members on the ''Hafnia Nile', who were charged. Perera was the officer in charge of the navigational watch. Vainer was the duty lookout of the navigational watch. Vainer observed that the 'Hafnia Nile' was approaching close to the 'Ceres 'I, but did not report this to the officer in charge of the navigational watch. Instead, he allegedly steered the 'Hafnia Nile'. when he had not been directed to do so, and failed to keep a proper lookout. As a result of this failure, the vessel collided with the 'Ceres I'- The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore has brought the prosecution cases against the two men. If found guilty, the men can each be jailed for up to two years, fined up to SGD 50,000 or both.
Offloading underway
The offloading of the naphtha cargo iof the 'Hafnia Nile' was underway. The investigation into the incident also continued being led by Malaysian authorities and monitored by Singapore as the flag state of the product tanker. A portion of the cargo which was owned by Cespa and bound for Japan was recoverable. The offloading was to be completed in the next few days with the support of the Malaysian authorities. An unnamed tanker has been positioned to receive the naphtha. The 'Hafnia Nile' was underway near the eastern side of the Singapore Strait when it made contact with the tanker 'Ceres I '. It was expected that the 'Hafnia Nile', after having completed the offloading, would be permitted to proceed to a shipyard for repairs. investigators continued to explore it as an allision in which the 'Hafnia Nile' struck the 'Ceres I', which was believed to be at anchor. Among the points to be investigated, however, was if the vessel was broadcasting an accurate AIS signal and was at anchor as alleged. The vessel was linked to the operations hiding Iranian oil and it was in a known area used for illicit ship-to-ship transfers. The vessel is also reported to have a history of falsifying its AIS signal location and going dark. The ownership also remained clouded with it being registered likely to a shell company in Hong Kong that has not provided statements since the incident.
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