Minerva Concert aground off Sams

[Morten]

The tanker Minerva Concert have run aground on "Hatter Barn" just off the danish island Sams

[Miguel N]

Lots of details from the tanker here: http://www.minervatank.com/specs.asp

Regards.

Miguel N

[Bjoern Eddy Engelbrethsen]

There is some structural damage to the double-hulled 105,800-dwt Minerva Concert (built 2003) which ran aground on a sandbank in the Great Belt at around 18:00 on Monday.

A spokesman for the ship

[mooringman]

i know the area very well,it isn't the first vessel on ground at Hatter Barn.even some tankers grounded in this area.but i don't understand an accident like this with two danish pilots on board and even the vessel was not the first time in this area.

[Morten]

Update:

An attempt to refloat the ship this afternoon (15 may) have failed. The crew had rearranged some of the cargo in an attempt to get the ship off the bank at high tide. The attempt failed and now the shipowner is looking at other possibilities.

There is still no news as to the cause of the accident, but speculations are that a malfunction onboard is to blame.
The Danish Maritime Authority have begun their investigation of the accident.

[Ploiarxos]

In fact there was no any equipment malfunction Company

[Mats]

The cause is yet unknown, as nobody can have a clear picture of the events so shortly after the accident.

The Danish authorities are known for making thorough investigations into accidents at sea so we will know the conclusion eventually. The reports are published HERE. Many are in English, some in Danish.

P.S: I note Ploiarxos (who wrote the above message) joined today and assume his opinion (exclamation marks included)may reflect that of the vessel's owners.

[Morten]

Another update:

Danish news report that the company CEO have admitted that the ship veered off course because of a crack in a ballast tank, but they still blame the danish pilots for the grounding. The Danish Maritime authority have yet to come with an official statement regarding the accident.

As to the ship itself, they are now attempting to move approximately 10.000 mt of crude oil to another tanker in order to lighten the ship enough to bring it off the ground. But the transfer will probably take a couple of days.

[Ploiarxos]

About the crack in the ballast is just rumours.
The Ship was only 4 years old.
They can not blame the two Pilots as Pilots are advisory only, but they said that under Pilots orders (not under Master's) the Ship run aground.
The plan to transfer cargo from 1 to 6 wings failed as the Ship didn't refloat. The Ship will lighter some cargo in order to refloat tomorrow 18/05.
Info obtained from Shipmate of a major Greek Shipowner company.

[Morten]

The crack have been confirmed to have been present prior to the accident by the ships operator Minerva Marine's CEO.

[Ploiarxos]

Don't even think about that re crack. The Ship should have been detained by any Port State Control at any port and should not been able to fly the Greek flag. The flag administration should have also take care of such incident.
If a crack was in place that means ballast tank flooding, also means unable to maintain trim and stability and to sail in laden condition.
It is absolutely false in respect to the crack.
I'm a Master Mariner and i served onboard a few tanker ships, having a SMALL experience to guarantee that no any tanker ship CAN sail with a crack to the ballast tank due to loosing the title "double hull" and due to risk of pollution.

[Morten]

Now look, I don't know who you are trying to defend here (Well it's pretty obvious, but anyway) but I'm not making this up, the CEO have sent out a press release to danish news media saying that the ship developed a crack in a ballast tank.
 
Why such a new ship developed a crack, and how the crew and ship owner could be unaware of such a crack developing, I do not know, and if they did know, they acted very negligent in loading crude oil and then setting off.

Also, a port state control would not have revealed such a crack developing. I have experienced several port state controls (some even in the US) and never, not even once, have I seen anybody carry out a ballast tank inspection or a subsurface hull inspection.

Furthermore, not knowing the ship owners reputation and not insinuating anything, it wouldn't be the first time a ship owner "forgot" to mention a defect.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm trying to defend anything here, I guess I just find it strange how the CEO can admit that the ship drifted off course due to a cracked hull but still blame the pilots for the grounding (again, according to the companys own press release). Especially since it is ALWAYS the responsibility of the master and that the master should have corrected any wrong order from the pilot.

[hmr170]

Can anyone explain to me how a fracture in the hull would affect the vessel's maneuverability and cause it to veer off course?

[mooringman]

i was wondering about the discussion here.for sure has the crack in the hull,if this crack was there before the grounding,nothing to do with the reason of the accident.there are only three reasons:technical default like rudder engine or engine failure,a fishing vessel or small coaster or sailing boat crossing,or a terrible mistake on the bridge including the danish pilots,the mate,helmsman and even the captain.

[Morten]

A substantial crack in the ships hull below the water line will alter the ships hydrodynamics and make it constantly pull in the direction where the crack is located (as an effect of the increased drag), if the ship enters a strong current, it will further affect this characteristic and can induce sudden course changes (because of the further increase in drag). And since the rudder surfaces of tankers are generally quite small, the rudder might have proven insufficient for the job at hand.

Also, Hatter Barn is located on the eastern side of route T (starbord when outbound) and if you look at the charts, hatter barn (bank) and Hatter rev (reef) forces the route to "kink" east exactly at the point where the ship grounded (hence the strong advice for pilotage), so the only way the pilots could have done anything wrong would be if they requested a course alteration to a course close to something like 090 which would defy all logic (seeing that the normal course is closer to 030). Furthermore, the bank is very well marked and very well known to mariners who travel in these waters(since the numerous groudings and "touch and goes") and a pilot making the mistake of giving an order that wrong and not detecting it in time (especially knowing that there were two pilots onboard) in that particular area seems extremely unlikely to me. Unless ofcause they were just trying to cut the corner which seems even more unlikely. But hey, wouldn't be the first time a pilot caused a grounding (though the first time on Hatter Barn).

To me, knowing the area and the pilot standard in the area, the most obvious cause would be a malfunction or defect on the ship and i believe a suddenly developing crack could cause a course deviation large enough to bring the ship aground on the bank.