Three ship-to-shore (STS) cranes were toppled over onto the container stack and the quay at the privately run Port of Kocaeli in Turkey when a 14,000 TEU vessel rammed into the port equipment.
The YM Witness, run by Taiwanese shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport Corporation, was docking at the port on the Gulf of Izmit in the Sea of Marmara when it overshot its berthing turn.
Video footage from Saturday afternoon’s incident shows how the vessel’s bow on the port side started nudging one of the STS cranes towards another.
The fourth crane in the row bent under the force of the first two that were pushed onto it and collapsed lengthways onto the quay.
The crane into which the vessel initially collided, including another, collapsed backwards onto the container stack and boxes loaded on the vessel.
Miraculously, no one was injured in the accident.
The collision resulted in significant damage and moments of horror as the vessel continued to push into the port equipment despite efforts to stem its approach through reverse bow-thrusting.
The Witness was being steered by a pilot at the time of the accident.
WATCH: The moment the YM Witness rammed into ship-to-shore cranes at a port in Turkey.