Incident Video: Fire Erupts After RoRo Crashes Into Crane in Barcelona

A video grab shows a ship colliding with a crane in the port of Barcelona, Spain, October 31, 2018 in this picture obtained from social media. Petar Petrov/via REUTERS 

A roll-on/roll-off ferry crashed into a gantry crane while docking at the port of Barcelona on Wednesday, causing the crane to collapse and sparking a large fire.

The ferry, named Excellent, is operated by Italy’s Grandi Navi Veloci. According to reports, the vessel was in the process of docking when its bow struck the crane, causing it to topple onto nearby containers that swiftly caught fire.

The entire incident was captured on video from multiple angles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFpyy72CWt8

The video below shows the crane topple over along with the fire that broke out almost immediately afterward:

@tv3cat @rac1 @LaVanguardia @diariARA @elnacionalcat un vaixell de la companyia GNV ha tombat una grua al port de barcelona, esperem no lamentar danys personals pic.twitter.com/8lUAFrFOPK

— Aleix Badia (@Aleixbadia1) October 31, 2018

As you can see in the photo below, the fire that resulted was fairly large and sent black smoke into the air that could be seen for miles. 

The Excellent was arriving in Barcelona after sailing from Genoa, Italy as part of its regular service. The vessel was built in 1998 and has capacity for about 2,200 passengers and 760 vehicles. 

No injuries have been reported. 

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 107,344 members