On 6 May 2017, cargo vessel Southern Phoenix sunk in Suva Harbour, Fiji. The vessel began taking on water, developed a heavy list to port side after loading at the wharf and subsequently sank. With no loss of life reported, the cargo on board included 183 tonnes of heavy fuel oil, 30 tonnes of marine diesel oil, 179 containers and break-bulk and other cargo.

Around 20 containers were left floating around in the harbour after the ship sank, with salvage and clean up operations underway.

The Southern Phoenix was launched in 1986, had a 256-TEU capacity for containers, a bale capacity of 5772 cubic metres, or 5854 cubic metres of grain.

Its beneficial, commercial and registered owner is Cruz Holdings Limited (Fiji), which is also the vessel’s technical manager.

Over the past two years, the vessel has called at various ports in Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.