The small coasters Karin Hoej and Scot Carrier collided at 03:30 CET this morning, off the South coast of Sweden. One of the ships is capsized, and there are people missing. With only a couple of degrees centigrade in the water, this one won’t have a happy ending 
Article in Expressen (Swedish Original - Google Translation)
EDIT: According to this article in Aftenposten, it’s the Karin Hoej that’s upside down.
The AIS tracks make it look an awful lot like the Karin Hoej got run down from astern…
Could you please post the AIS tracks?
From the BBC:
Here ya go:
Two crew members of the Karin Hoej were missing. After towing the fully capsized ship to shallow waters one body was found inside the ship. None of the crew if the British ship was hurt by the accident.
Two crew members of the Scot Carrier were arrested on the suspicion of the use of alcohol.
Just a bit more: Two cargo ships - one British - collide in the Baltic Sea: Two crew feared dead | Daily Mail Online:
Two cargo ships - one British - collide in the Baltic Sea: Two crew feared dead | Daily Mail Online
A avoidable tragedy… Why do the news articles insist on identifying the Karin Hoej as a “barge”?
She is classed as a Self-sailing barges (Splitbarge):
Latest from BBC News:
Looking at the AIS they were both going through a TSS in the same direction, prior to the collision the Scot Carrier was doing about 12 knots and the Karin Hoej was doing about 6 knots. The AIS tracks indicate that the Scot Carrier was the overtaking vessel but they just went straight into the stern of the Karin Hoej.
I’ve heard that crew on small coasters are often expected to work an illegally high number of hours but record that they have worked legal hours. Hours of rest are often not complied with.
I have never heard of Self-sailing barges. But maybe they sail around in Norway on their own. Are you a Captain of one such Self-sailing barge?
I guess a better term would be “self-propelled barge” as “self-sailing” may also be interpreted as being autonomous.
IHS classified Karin Høj as “Hopper, Motor”; perhaps “motor hopper” could also be quite descriptive.
There were a number of WWII vintage small tank vessels operating on the U.S. east coast that were often referred to as “motorized barges” Boston Towing & Transportation had one (Vincent Tibbetts), and Poling Bros. also operated some of them.
If I recall correctly, Aquamaster used to offer deck-mounted azimuthing propulsion units that could turn a non-self-propelled barge into one that could move under its own power.
Self-sailing Barges (Splitbarge) was the term used by the Owner in their vessel specification.
(See post #9)
Yes the Karin Høj was equipped with two Harbourmaster units, as seen here:
Not uncommon on split barges seen worldwide. Here two of three operating in Lihir Island, PNG:
In Pacific Northwest vernacular, they are “power scows” and were a major part of the Alaska fishing industry.
I thought “power scow” referred specifically to a WW2 BSP?
Here is a replay of the AIS:
