Author Topic: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India  (Read 144315 times)


Offline Captain Ted

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #1 on: June 17, 2013, 11:19:48 PM »
@ Timsen

thanks for posting. Interesting what they write in the posting. The picture is also good. One can see how she is starting breaking total apart almost at midships. I was on container ships and the way they are loaded, with total disregard to bendings and torsions during port operations one wonders that this does not happen more often. We had also cracks in the holds and such, so not a real suprise to me that this happens. I sailed with another Chief Mate 4-5 years back and he served on a 8000 TEU ship and he told me all over the ships were cracks etc. . Another container vessel had problems in the english channel where she broke apart ? (don,t remember the name) . I posted a few days ago something on the senseless gingantism of these ships (triple E comes to mind) and one day we may regret that they were builded and peoples noe in total favour of it will act surprised. To me not at all, we will see more of this and it will not stop until the insurance companies refusing to insure them because of the heavy losses to them. One can only hope, that like in this instance crews getting always off.
One day one will break apart in the english channel or close to a coast and creating beside the sinking a nice big oil spill, may be then the awakening happens
NOW!!!,,,if we could get rid of the sailors,,how safe shipping would be !!!!!!!!

Offline Dеnis

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2013, 11:56:41 PM »
The first time I hear a containership broke in two. Funny how she's only 316 m long & 5 years old. I'm curious what do those who built & operate nearly 400 m long  containrships think now.

Speaking of the senseless gingantism, notice: pre-WW2 - liners, WW2 - battleships, 70s - oil tankers, now - cruise ships, bulkers, ore carriers, containerships.  What will be soon in some decades?
Regards,
Denis

Offline Hawkeye

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2013, 12:08:54 AM »
The one that split in the English Channel was the MSC Napoli.

http://www.ship-disasters.com/commercial-ship-disasters/container-ship-disasters/msc-napoli/

That was in 2007.

Offline Captain Ted

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2013, 02:13:02 AM »
@ Hawkeye
thanks for the info, really forgot that name,, age catches up :-)

@ Denis
that,s what I posted in the forum for the triple E,, we had it all big here and big there
quick here and quicker there and it all ended somewhere in disaster, as we now all know ,in disaster.
I know I sound old fashioned and backwards, but when I was about 20 I was on a container ship (Barbarossa, from Janssen, Elfleth, Charterer Name :Ibn al Akhfani, UASC) builded by Thyssen Nordsee. We took it brand new from the yard. The yard engineer who was in charge of the ship during construction sailed with us on the first trip from EU to the Persian Gulf, Kuweit amongst others and back,(btw we brought 5 palletts Becks beer there too), took 2 month the roundtrip. During all this time you could see that guy crawling through the whole ship, made notes and sometimes took pictures. He told us one day, that when he goes back there are certain things he lerned now and wants to change. No idea if he did,, but the point is in that time it was build by experience and looking afterwards how it works. Nowadays ships are constructed by computer programs. What is easily forgotten when the computer says its perfekt  :GIGA  = Garbage in / Garbage out
A computer can only work as good as the person who enters the data and where that data comes from. If that is flawed,,, GIGA !!!! again.
I firmly believe that we just see the beginning of the break ups. The fleet of container vessels over 300 m is relative young, lets see what happens when they are in 10-20 years stages (may be the slow steaming now is also a factor, with high speed it goes more through the waves, now they ride the waves and therefore possible the stresses are much higher then thought off). Lets hope that it will not cost lifes, but I am afraid sooner or later it will and then one will not hear anyone who says,, Yeah,,was risky,,but
 
NOW!!!,,,if we could get rid of the sailors,,how safe shipping would be !!!!!!!!

Offline PHa

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2013, 02:56:39 AM »
Ship was built in 2008 by Mitsubishi in Nagasaki (JPN). L/B 316/45,6. Classification Nippon Kaiji Kyokai. Flags as per equasis: Bahamas, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Panama, Singapore. Swell 6 meters when crack happens. Photo of crack on http://newindianexpress.com/nation/Indian-Coast-Guards-help-rescue-26-crew-from-shipwreck-near-Yemen/2013/06/17/article1639547.ece#
Regards Peter

Offline PHa

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2013, 03:07:26 AM »
Download Marine Investigation Report MSC Napoli:

http://www.maib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/2008/msc_napoli.cfm

Conclusion of the report:

The investigation has identified a number of factors which contributed to the failure of the hull structure, including:
« Last Edit: June 18, 2013, 03:10:09 AM by Peter Hartung »

Offline Tykemariner

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2013, 06:55:25 AM »
Latest on gCaptain from MRCC Mumbai shows both sections still afloat and at present been monitored.

It's good to see that there was no loss of life.

Hopefully they will be able to keep both sections afloat and be able to tow them to a port of refuge so that a proper inspection can be carried out and the actual cause be discovered.

A major problem in the Container Industry is under-declaring of container weights. This is meaning a lot of extra weight is been carried by vessels and thus the actual shear-forces, bending moments and torsion are not known and how they are effecting the vessel.

Last year I had to have loading stop on one  container vessel I was Master on when we reached our marks and still had a number of containers to load. The information received from the planners stated that they could be loaded and the vessel would not reach her marks. Obviously there was more weight in the containers than was declared.

If this has been going on onboard the MOL Comfort for most of her life, it could be one factor in probably a list of contributing factors.

It will be interesting to see what the final report into the incident gives as the reason for the breaking in two.

Mark

Offline Valeriy Balalaev

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2013, 09:41:46 AM »
See sister ship ,all sisters have longitud deformation hull ???

Offline lars henriksen

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2013, 10:36:00 AM »
This just came in..

http://maritimedanmark.dk/?Id=19361   This is a Danish site..

There is new pictures..


Offline lappino

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #10 on: June 18, 2013, 11:24:20 AM »
Disturbing news, and the talk of the day in the industry.

Salvaging both halves should be the priority now...

Obvious reason is valuable cargo, but more important is finding out what actually hapenned.

My guess is just what Tykemariner said, mis-declaring of container weight, or wrong weight distribution.

Time is of major issue now: left to its own devices, unmanned vessel (both halves!) in current condition will eventually founder...

Offline holedrille

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #11 on: June 18, 2013, 12:20:23 PM »
Both halves look very stable, and the back half still presumably functions. Just wait for the weather to moderate, power the back half into the front, and continue the journey!
Holedriller

Offline erimus

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #12 on: June 18, 2013, 12:41:34 PM »
A report in another Forum states she had her 5 year Special Survey only 3 weeks ago so looks like a mal-loading!

In meantime Lloyds Loading List lunchtime bulletin states:-

A Mitsui OSK Lines boxship reported sunk yesterday is apparently still afloat, having broken in two on high seas some 200 miles from Yemen, according to an Indian Coast Guard official.

Many of the 4,372 boxes on board MOL Comfort remain on the split vessel, although some have fallen in the sea, according to Mumbai operations unit commandant Rama Rao.

Rao said MOL-owned car carrier Sanderling Ace was at the site monitoring the situation but that the seas were still too high, with swells of 5 m-6 m, to determine the extent of any fuel oil spill.

MOL has now confirmed that the ship
Geoff

Offline PHa

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #13 on: June 18, 2013, 12:44:11 PM »
Maritime Bulletin confirms: MOL COMFORT split in two, obviously still floating. Heavy weather in that region of indian ocean.

Links:
http://www.news.odin.tc/index.php?page=view/article/518/MOL-Comfort-halves-still-afloat

https://twitter.com/nalam65

Regards Peter

Offline Captain Ted

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Re: Container vessel MOL COMFORT broke in two and sank off India
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2013, 01:05:26 PM »
@ Tykemariner

That container weights are often off is really no new news. However I was also on a few container ships for a few years and one thing is normally never done on them, making a draft survey.
Only by mark is not the real deal in that matter because most container ships are by weight
not fully laden, special when making the Europe sling and then later the Asian sling hopping from port to port.
The extra weights, or better said misdeclared weights, would then have to be also more or less in one section of the ship in order to have a point(local)-impact. I would say highly unlikely that in one hold of a ship all the misdelcared containers are stowed by chance. Most probably they are a kind of "distributed" throughout the ship. The impact from misdeclared weights is much more important on stability then on bending and torsions.
I stopped once loading before finishing, not because of the draft mark (not reached) but because the vessel became top-heavy and moved very soft when a container was landed. After
re-weighing one of the containers still on the dock and to be loaded it was found that that container was misdeclared by almost 6 tons,,, we had 45 of them to be loaded and around
30 already aboard on deck.
My opinon is more in that direction that during loading/discharging the stresses put on the vessel are largely ignored. As you know also, because you were there as you stated, nobody can really track during the operations the reality stresses at all times and how often you most probably also saw that one bay was pulled empty while the next bay was just loaded full. A lot container ships have heeling tanks, which prevents a too high list but no trim tanks beside the regular ballast tanks. On most ships those pumps for the ballast tanks are not designed to keep up with the "present and active" stresses but usually used to make the final adjustments to trimming and stability at the end of loading and before leaving port.

I had one incident, I had just signed on in Singapore late evening, and walked in the morning with the CO alongside the vessel from the bow to the gangway aft, and naturally looking at the drafts. The vessel had a hogging of 90 cm !!!! on a 145 m vessel. I looked up and holds 1-2 and holds 4-5 were already on deck loading, holds full, and hold 3 empty. The reason was that two gantries, one worked from forward to aft and the other from aft to forward, but could not work hold 3 until dead last. After I inquired it was stated that they always discharged/loaded the vessel like that for time (money) reasons. I stopped the operations and requested cargo immediately for hold 3, you can imagine most probably also
what uproar from the stevedores side came !!!
That ship was 6 years in that charter and went out after one trip more, the holds were total rust, the hatch covers did not close anymore by centimeters and I remember one cover, it touched one side of the coaming, but not the other side, that was actually hold 3.
This total disregard to stresses (bendings/torsions)in ports during loading/discharging ops is in my opinion a much bigger problem because it makes the steel brittle and it is therfroe much more prone to crack. That certain construction details are not tested or not even calculated as above stated is another thing where one might think how classification companies can go along with that and place their stamp of approval on it.
Lets hope that this does not happen again,, but honestly I think we will see more of such instances in the future as the now first container vessels over 300 m entering the stage of over 10 years.  



NOW!!!,,,if we could get rid of the sailors,,how safe shipping would be !!!!!!!!

 

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