A recent incident in Muuga Estonia saw the CMA CGM Mermaid boxship collide with a pier, slicing several metres off the structure and damaging a neighbouring bulker, Belasitza, as she arrived from Kotka. The event occurred at about 11:50 UTC on 8 September when the vessel made contact with the container terminal’s pier.
Images circulating in Estonian media show the Mermaid with her plumb bow penetrating the concrete pier wall by a considerable margin, leaving visible chunks of the structure dislodged. The extent of damage to the ship itself has not been disclosed publicly. As of the morning of 11 September the vessel remained moored alongside the damaged pier. However, according to ShipAtlas it seems like the ship has now been moved (image below).
The Mermaid is a recent addition to CMA CGM’s feeder fleet, part of a series of ten sister ships built by Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Hyundai Heavy Industries. It has a capacity of about 2,000 TEU and was delivered just last year. The design incorporates a plumb (vertical) bow to improve efficiency and wave-cutting performance. However with that design also comes sharper points of contact in case of collisions, which may aggravate structural damage to fixed harbour infrastructure.
After the allision, port authorities in Muuga confirmed that the CMA CGM Mermaid remains secured to the damaged pier, with operations at the container terminal likely paused pending inspection, though no official statement has clarified the timeframe. The Belasitza bulker reported minor damage at the bow. No casualties or environmental spillages have been reported.
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