Author Topic: Cruise ship "Zenith" Run aground in  (Read 7564 times)

Offline Morten

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Re: Cruise ship "Zenith" Run aground in
« Reply #15 on: May 17, 2009, 05:52:54 AM »
About 5% of the ships transiting Great Belt do not use pilots. And unfortunately, it is the wrong 5%! It is most often old tankers with less than perfect equipment who don't want to pay for pilotage on their way to or from Russian or Baltic ports!
I know the director of "dan-pilot" (he was an instructor with the maritime college I attended) and they are less than impressed by these ships as they often bring themselves as well as other ships in danger trying to navigate a notoriously difficult stretch of water (as you probably know, route T isn't exactly the widest route out there)!

The reason why we still don't have compulsory pilotage is because, especially, the russians start complaining each time it is brought up! If they were intending on taking pilot, they probably wouldn't complain about it being compulsory!

If you plan on calling a danish port, however, and you haven't taken pilot, through

Offline Nikolaj Petersen

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Re: Cruise ship "Zenith" Run aground in
« Reply #16 on: May 20, 2009, 02:41:15 PM »
Now it is for certain, there was no pilot onboard Zenith nor Astor, today the Danish pilot criticize the port of Copenhagen for advertising that the harbour dosn't have compulsory pilotage, and that being the reason for the two ships running aground.
My news source, in Danish: http://www.maritimedanmark.dk/?Id=4795

Offline mooringman

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Re: Cruise ship "Zenith" Run aground in
« Reply #17 on: May 21, 2009, 12:01:34 PM »
ty for the information abt. the pilot on the two cruiseships.I don't understand,why such big vessels,which are no regular liner vessels,are not having compulsary pilotage.I remember on a "meeting" with one of the "Costa" vessels close to the breakwater in Copenhagen.We left the port without pilot and she came in without pilot and the Captain of the cruiseliner was very very upset on the VHF,even if there was no danger at all.

Offline Morten

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Re: Cruise ship "Zenith" Run aground in
« Reply #18 on: May 21, 2009, 04:44:17 PM »
I don't get how these companies and the captains on their ships can justify not taking pilot, compulsory or not! It's nothing short of reckless! One thing is running aground, but what if they collide with another ship or one of the structures in the area?! The pilots have a huge knowledge of the area, of how other ships (carrying pilot) will move and how wind and currents are! And if you have 500 paying passengers on board who all want to see the departure chances are that someone will get injured if another ship come crashing through the side of the ship!

I wonder if this is standard practice among cruise ships? On the vessels I've been on, we never enter a port without having a pilot onboard, regardless of how many times we've been there and whether it's compulsory or not and ! It is part of the company procedures.

I'm not entirely aware of the pilot charges in Copenhagen, but I really doubt that the cost of a pilot is anything compared to a possible lawsuit as a result of injuries! Or compared to the price of repairing hull damage sustained from touching the bottom or a collision!

Offline tom deuchar

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Re: Cruise ship "Zenith" Run aground in
« Reply #19 on: May 26, 2009, 07:18:54 AM »
Well Zenith has arrived safely in port at Frihamnen, Stockholm this morning, and disembarkation is happening as normal!

 

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