In the night from 10 to 11 October, 2013 the German motor vessel following from the Seaport of Poti to the Seaport in Rostov-on-Don abruptly changed its course towards the coastline and at full speed entered the coverage area of the Seaport of Tuapse VTS of the Azovo-Chernomorsky Basin Branch Tuapse Department. VTS duty shift made repeated attempts to establish communication with the vessel. In the two cables before the coastline the Seaport of Tuapse VTS center operators however managed to get in touch with the German motor vessel. The vessel was instructed to immediately change course to set aside the recommended ways of movement.

Thanks to the skillful and timely actions of the Tuapse Seaport VTS duty shift the vessel grounding and damage to the hull with a possible oil spill have been avoided.

Violation of the navigation rules by the vessel was reported to the Seaport of Tuapse master.