Cruise ship "Zenith" Run aground in

[Morten]

According to danish news,  the cruise ship "Zenith", carrying 550 passengers, ran aground on a sand bank shortly after departing from the Port of Copenhagen last night (9.5.2009). After refloating the ship during high tide, the ship was ordered back to Copenhagen for a hull examination.

The danish navy environmental protection vessel "Mette Milj

[Timsen]

The ship meanwhile departed from Copenhagen and is currently underway to Stockholm.

[Stuart Lilly]

Good day all;

Can anyone confirm whether a local pilot was aboard at the time of grounding?
thanks in advance.

[Morten]

Hey there!

I can't find any information on whether they had pilot onboard and I'm not entirely sure if they were still within the harbour limits.
In the

[Nikolaj Petersen]

As BlueWombat says no infromation indicates that ther was a pilot onboard, also becourse the newspapers are surgesting that the captain wil be charged, for the accident, regless sailing.

[Morten]

Yeah... I was thinking the same thing, that if there had been a pilot, they wouldn't have charged the captain, but then again... No matter who is at fault and who messed up, the captain is always the one who get the blame!
I don't want to defend the captain here, if he didn't carry a pilot, it is gross negligence in my eyes! However,

[Stuart Lilly]

Thanks for the responses.

[mooringman]

First of all,i'm just wondering,where the cruiseship grounded in the Sound,because there are lots of possibilities to touch the bottom with a draft of 7,7m.
Then i can't understand,why the captain sailed without a pilot....i have my doubts abt. that.
It was easterly winds in the Baltic and the water level might be less then normal and a captain should know that.

[Morten]

The ship ran aground on a sandbank off the fortified island "Middelgrundsfortet" 55 18'3N 012 40'0E... I'm not that familiar with the waters outside the port of Copenhagen, but I do know that the area where they ran aground has a lot of large windmills and there are quite a few sand banks, so you would be navigating with extra caution there!
I have been looking through the various news about the incident, but none of them mention whether there was a pilot onboard and the closest there is to any info to why it happened is a short passage in a danish newspaper citing a police spokesman:

"[...]the captain apparantly received the wrong coordinates"

which sounds sort of odd to me as no navigator in his right mind would try passing through an area like that relying on coordinates from any instrument! You'd do it by radar (the parallel index is your friend) or by sight - especially when coming that close to something as solid as a fortress or windmills!

My guess is that they weren't paying due attention to the navigation and might have drifted slightly off course without noticing.
The channels are quite narrow and even a slight deviation from your track could result in touching the bottom!

[mooringman]

ty for the information.I don't have the chart here,but i will try to see abt. the position  in Google Earth.Normally it is enough water there with a draft from 7,7m ,but maybe the vessel was to close to "Middelgrundsfort".Then it was a navigation error due to GPS and Radar.And the other reason could be low water due to easterly winds in the Baltic.
I know the port of Copenhagen and the Sound very well,was very often there with pilot and without pilot.The channel is narrow,but well  fitted with buoys and lighthouses with racon(radarbeacons).And it can be a strong current there as well,depends on the wind strenght and direction.

[mooringman]

If the position is right,the bottom touch was at the lighthouse Falsterborev.Normally the Sound Pilot already leaves the vessel south of Drogden Lighthouse.

[Morten]

The position isn't that exact, but the rough location. Again. I'm not that familiar with the area (have only "sailed" there once in a simulator) but the ship was en route to Gdynia so it would have to go south through the sound and would have had pilot at the time.

Usually, the danish news aren't that good at mentioning the pilot when the casualties did have him onboard at the time of the accident, but due to the controversy surrounding the non-compulsory pilotage in Great Belt and

[Morten]

*#

[mooringman]

I checked out your new position and it is close to Middelgrunds Fort.But then the vessel had the Fort on her port side and there isn't enough water.She is supposed to pass the Fort on her Starboard side as far as i remember in a minimum distance of 0,5 nm.But i'm still wondering,if there was a pilot on board.
I don't have the sea chart here,i'm just looking on the AIS together with Google Earth,but i have passed the area so many times,i'm still navigating on the computer....LOL!

[Christian Br]

Pilotage is compulsory for tankers going to or from a Danish port, anchoring or doing STS within Danish waters. For the large tankers in transit thru Great Belt IMO recommends pilotage and after talking to the pilots we use when we transit the Great Belt I think almost all tankers use pilots as well. Some charterers also require the vessels to use pilots