It was a technical fault that caused the Viking Line ship Amorella to run aground in September, the Swedish Accident Investigation Board's investigation shows.
At the same time, the shipping company announces that its most recently grounded ferry will soon be able to resume its service.
”"As a result of a technical fault in Amorella's power control system, the right propeller blade angles were automatically moved to full reverse as the vessel approached the narrow passage at Hjulgrund," the report states.
At the grounding near the island of Järsö in the Åland archipelago, the crew on the bridge discovered that the ship was not behaving as usual. The ship turned towards the edge of the fairway area, which caused the first bottom detection southeast of Hjulgrund. After the ship's draft in the bow increased and it started to list to the right, the master on board decided to run it onto the beach at Järsö.
The investigation continues and the full report, including the investigation plan, will be published in the summer of 2021.
On Wednesday, it was also announced that the Viking Grace, which ran aground in Mariehamn on Åland this weekend, can be put back into service. After an investigation, it turned out that only one propeller was damaged in the accident, Viking Line reports. Neither the ship's hull nor the bottom sustained any damage. After being pulled free, the ship was able to make its way under its own power to Turku, and then on to Naantali, where the propeller damage is being repaired. No one was injured in the accident.
Viking Grace will resume its service on Sunday, November 29, departing from Turku just before 9 p.m.
Viking Line shares are traded on the Helsinki Stock Exchange and the price is down just over 18 percent so far this year, to a market value of 167 million euros. Since Swedish financier Jakob Johansson bought into the shipping company around midsummer 2019 at a price of 18 euros and became the largest individual owner, something Di then wrote if, the share has fallen just over 10 percent to 15.50 euros.
Source:TT.di
