MSC TIA : Mechanical problems on the St-Lawrence River

[Francis B-Morel]

Anchored in front of Petite-Rivi

[Steve Geronazzo]

Hi Francis,

Thanks for letting us know about the MSC TIA. I'll definitely keep my eyes open for this ship.

Steve

[Francis B-Morel]

Oc

[Steve Geronazzo]

Thanks Francis for the information.

Steve

[Steve Geronazzo]

Update 2012-01-12 (8h00 EST):

Thanks to the tip of Francis B-Morel, I noticed last night that the tug OCEAN ROSS GAUDREAULT was heading towards the MSC TIA. They proceded together upbound towards Quebec City where it arrived late last night.

I went to take pictures this morning.

According to the Port of Quebec City it is supposed to leave Quebec City at 16h00 today.

Quite the rare sight having a containership docked in Quebec City!

Any information on the nature of the mechanical problems would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve Geronazzo

[T.Richard]

MSC Tia suffered from a main engine  shut down due to  two faulty LT (low temp.) coolers. Several attemps were made to fix the problems but failed to comply with pilots and coast guard requirements. The vessel managed to reach quebec with her own power  and docked 60 hours after taking her pilots at Escoumins... with the help of two frozen pilots (there was no heat for 24hours)  and a tug escort.

Quiet a commun problem on the St-Lawrence river during winter on poorly designed and maintained vessels.

[kyle pesely]

(M)ore (S)crap (C)oming!

its a shame. those old SeaLand boats used to look so nice.

[Jean Hemond]

It might well be something else with MSC TIA!
The problem looks serious for she is delayed till next week and moored in Quebec Harbour.

The situation here with 50 years of winter navigation on the St-Lawrence should be understood
It is, in my opinion, not with the ships but rather the lack of understanding and concern from the ship managers and engineers about engines cooling water intakes while sailing in ice. Pilots are known to complain regularly about this situation.

At near 0 the floating (fresh) water ice separate in needle like crystals and start to sink.
(It is well known popular physics and easily observed when the ice cover of lakes very suddenly sink with noise in the spring.)

The crystals get to jam the deeper intakes and under the pump pressure ( vacuum) in the grating they form a solid ice plug. The engine with no cooling water then overheat.

The loss of power in a channel with strong currents and ice-floes is not to be taken lightly 
Most ships operating in winter here use a ballast tank for cooling the engines .

   

[T.Richard]

It is a very well documented problem, water intake freezing in fresh water causing main engine to overheat and shut down. There is three things involved here:

 1- There is no ice regulations/requirements on the St-Lawrence river during winter,one would wonder why?, well it's easy, just ask the shipping federation about it and you'll get your answer, they don't want it...and they clearly told the goverment

 2- Some owner send vessel that are not designed for winter, no heat, no cooling recirculation, no gear for the crew... and so on !
 
3- As you all know so well, Foreing flag  vessel allows owners to hire whatever, whoever they want, under god knows what conditions... so you get what you pay for...On the MSC Tia, almost none on board (all Indian crew) had seen snow before...the poor chief engineer was overwhelmed by the situation.

...so who do you think gets stuck with the problem?, the crew and the pilots and in case of an accident,  the public, just imagine one of these ships going aground due to a black out...

Transport Canada knows about that.. they have known this for years... so what's going on ?...
What about a minimum ice class regulation like they have in the Baltic...?

In the end it's all about $$$... until one of them hits a bridge or makes a big mess !

But be sure that the pilots first priority is to ensure the safety of the navigation, the environnement, the crew and the cargo.