Second Rudder Failure Grounds Cargo Ship in Ghent-Terneuzen Canal

Rudder Failure Sends Arklow Falcon into Canal Bank

For the second time in August, a cargo vessel transiting the busy Ghent-Terneuzen canal has veered out of the navigation channel and struck the mud embankment lining the waterway. According to a report by The Maritime Executive, Dutch water authority Rijkswaterstaat is now investigating the cause of both incidents.

The Irish-registered general cargo ship Arklow Falcon, a 90-meter, 4,972-dwt vessel, was heading toward Ghent, Belgium, on the evening of August 20 when it apparently lost control of its rudder near Terneuzen, Netherlands. Around 6:45 p.m. local time, the vessel drifted out of the shipping lane and drove its bow onto the embankment at an angle. It remains unclear whether the ship was carrying cargo at the time or how fast it was moving when the incident occurred.

Rapid Response Limited the Damage

Authorities were alerted quickly, and by 7:15 p.m. a tug from Multraship along with a Rijkswaterstaat patrol boat had been dispatched to the scene. Within roughly an hour, the Arklow Falcon was able to back itself off the embankment, with the tug assisting in repositioning the vessel before escorting it to anchorage for further inspection. No injuries or significant damage were reported.

Not an Isolated Event

This grounding closely echoes an earlier incident on the same canal just two weeks prior. On August 7, the DFDS RoRo vessel Primula Seaways, a much larger 14,000-dwt, 200-meter ship arriving from Gothenburg, Sweden, also lost steering control near Terneuzen and drove its bow into the canal bank. That event proved more serious: the vessel remained stuck for hours, drawing onlookers, and it took tugs around three hours to free it. Reports indicated damage both to the ship’s bow and to the canal’s rock and earthwork embankment.

With two separate vessels experiencing apparent loss of rudder or steering control in the same narrow waterway within weeks of each other, Rijkswaterstaat’s investigation will likely focus on whether the incidents share a common cause, whether that involves equipment failure, canal conditions, or operational factors specific to the stretch near Terneuzen.

What This Means for Owners and Managers

Steering gear failures in confined waterways like the Ghent-Terneuzen canal carry outsized consequences because there is little room to recover before contacting a bank or another vessel. Two such incidents in the same canal within a matter of weeks should prompt operators transiting this route, and similarly constrained waterways elsewhere, to take a hard look at rudder and steering system maintenance records, particularly for aging hydraulic components, control linkages, and emergency steering arrangements.

For technical superintendents, this is a useful reminder that condition surveys and machinery inspections should give steering gear the same scrutiny as main propulsion. A rudder or steering control fault that might be manageable in open water can quickly become a grounding risk, canal closure, or costly salvage operation in a restricted channel. Charterers and insurers reviewing vessels with recent canal transits through high-traffic Dutch and Belgian waterways may also want to request documentation of steering gear testing and recent survey history before fixing a ship on similar routes.

While neither incident described here resulted in injury or major damage, the pattern is worth monitoring. If Rijkswaterstaat’s investigation points to a systemic issue, whether in vessel equipment, canal pilotage practices, or environmental conditions along this stretch, it could have implications for safety guidance and inspection protocols affecting all vessels using the Ghent-Terneuzen route going forward.