The German schooner ‘No. 5 Elbe’, built in the 19th century, collided with the Cyprus-flagged 141-meter-long container ship ‘Astrosprinter’ about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of Hamburg on 8 June 2019.
A total of 28 passengers and 15 crew were onboard the schooner at the time of the incident.
The vessel managed to reach the Schwinge estuary without assistance, Continue reading “BSU draws attention to watertight integrity after collision”
Traditional manual work is increasingly being replaced by automated processes, such as self-driving Automated Guided Vehicles in container terminals. Thanks to robots, the quality of ship painting can also be improved and the docking time shortened. Hapag-Lloyd is currently testing the process with nine ships.
Keeping barnacles, mussels and algae off the hull – the subject of fouling is as old as shipping itself. Fouling dramatically increases drag, which results in high fuel consumption and makes it harder to achieve climate targets. So, it’s a question that repeatedly arises: How can fouling be efficiently and reliably prevented over a period of five years, when a vessel will have to go into a shipyard anyways for its regular classification survey? Continue reading “Hapag-Lloyd tests ship-painting robots”
Port Authority Director of Thailand, Kamolsak Phromprayoon, has reported that the fire onboard the ‘KMTC Hong Kong’ containership was due to mis-declared chemical cargoes of calcium hypochlorite and chlorinated paraffin wax.
More than 130 people were transferred to hospital after an explosion and fire onboard the South Korean container ship ‘KMTC Hong Kong’ while berthed in Thailand’s eastern Laem Chabang port.
The port Authority inspected 35 containers at the centre of the blaze and more than half of them contained chemical products.
Continue reading “Mis-declared dangerous cargo cause of KMTC Hong Kong fire”
The Maritime Administrator of the Republic of the Marshall Islands has released its long-awaited report for publication on the investigation into the 2017 loss of the Stellar Daisy in the South Atlantic.
The Marshall Islands-flagged Stellar Daisy, a 266,141 DWT very large ore carrier, sank on March 31, 2017, approximately 1,700 nautical miles from Uruguay while underway from Brazil to China with a cargo of iron ore for Vale. Of the 24 crewmembers on board, only two were rescued. The other 22 are missing and presumed deceased.
The wreck of the vessel was only located last February in 3,461 meters of water.
The investigation determined that the likely direct cause of the foundering was a rapid list to port following a catastrophic structural Continue reading “The long awaited report into the loss of Stellar Daisy is published by the Marshall Islands”
Tasmanian high speed catamaran designers Incat Crowther recently announced the delivery of the 39m Multipurpose Crew Transfer Vessels ‘MHO Gurli’ and ‘MHO Esbjerg’.
The vessels were built by PT Bintang Timur Samudera in Indonesia and delivered to MH-O & Co to be operated in European waters for Orsted in their Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm.
The vessels, designed by Incat Crowther, are the largest Wind Farm Support Vessels to enter service to date anywhere in the world. They draw on Incat Crowther’s experience with larger offshore fast catamarans operating in the oil and gas industry.
The platform was specifically designed to deliver exceptional seakeeping, stability and comfort, whilst accommodating a highly redundant quad-engine / quad-jet propulsion package.
Continue reading “Windfarm crew transfer vessels are getting larger”
The IMO Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment held its 6th Session from 4 to 8 March 2019. The meeting focused on improvements in ventilation conditions of survival craft that will be achieved by finalising draft amendments to the LSA Code on ventilation requirements for survival craft and draft amendments to the ‘Revised recommendation on testing of life-saving appliances’.
Mainly, the Sub-Committee discussed the draft amendments to the LSA Code, relating to ventilation requirements of totally enclosed lifeboats.
In the meantime, the meeting made progress in developing draft amendments to the revised recommendation on testing of life-saving appliances regarding the ventilation of survival craft, aiming to ensure a habitable environment is maintained in such survival craft.
Often cargo planners who are preparing the stowage of steel coils in the cargo hold of a general dry cargo ship or bulk carrier, do not have the necessary cargo type specific information required to help them decide the permissible cargo load, thus preventing damage to the ship’s structure.
As Jan Rüde, Ship Type Expert MPV, DNV GL explains, according to SOLAS Chapter VI, Reg. 5, every ship must have an approved cargo securing manual.
Nonetheless, the majority of these manuals do not include detailed information about the carriage of steel coils or the only contain only particular types of steel coil. Continue reading “Ensuring safe passage for a steel coil cargo”
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued an investigation report on the sinking of the towing vessel ‘Ricky Robinson’ on the Lower Mississippi River, in December 2017, which caused death of the two crewmen onboard, oil discharge and significant damage of the vessel.
On 8 December 2017, about 11:26 local time, the Ricky Robinson capsized and sank on the Lower Mississippi River at mile 732.8 near Memphis, Tennessee, with two crewmembers on board, after the towing vessel began taking on water.
The pilot made a distress call just before the sinking; neither crewmember was found during the search and rescue operations that followed.
When the vessel was recovered 9 days later, the deckhand’s body was discovered inside the wreckage; the pilot is Continue reading “Unsecured deck hatches led to sinking of Ricky Robinson”
The NTSB issued an investigation report on the engine room fire and explosion onboard the towing vessel ‘J.W. Herron’ on Big Bayou Canot near Mobile, Alabama in December 2017. The report identified leaking lube oil from a propulsion diesel engine hose or tubing fitting that was ignited off an exposed hot engine surface, as the key cause of the accident.
About 1340 local time on 13 December 2017, the towing vessel J.W. Herron was shifting barges on Big Bayou Canot near Twelvemile Island, approximately 8 miles north of Mobile, Alabama, when a fire began in the lower engine room and quickly spread.
After the crew of three partially secured the engines and fuel supply, heavy smoke and fire prevented them from Continue reading “Leaking lube oil causes engine room fire on towing vessel”
The Swedish Club has published some lessons learnt from a machinery failure. The six cylinder, medium speed type engine sustained serious damage serious damage and had to be renewed. Additionally, the turbo charger had to be overhauled.
The vessel in question was in ballast and at anchor, waiting for further instructions. After seven days the weather got worse and the ship’s anchor dragged. The anchor was heaved up and the vessel started to slow steam in the area.
After about a day, the differential pressure alarm of the main engine duplex lubrication oil filter sounded in the engine control room. The crew found aluminium and other metal inside the Continue reading “Operation on high thermal load damages engine”
Although the industry continuously reminds the industry of the dangers of entering enclosed spaces, this remains the hidden enemy for crews. Between September and November 2018, there were 8 reported fatalities related to enclosed spaces. With this ongoing issue in mind the Shipowners Club has published a sample risk assessment addressing the various hazards associated with entering enclosed spaces.
In a span of just 18 months, the Club alone has experienced 15 related claims due to falls, asphyxiation, explosive burns and six fatalities. These alarming statistics have prompted the Club to produce a sample risk assessment on enclosed space entry as part of its ongoing campaign.
The guidance addresses the various hazards associated with an enclosed space entry operation, enclosed space entry requirements and Continue reading “Shipowners Club warns of the dangers following a spate of enclosed space incidents”
As of 1st January 2019, amendments to the bunker delivery note have entered into force, relating to the supply of marine fuel oil to ships, which have fitted alternative mechanisms to comply with the IMO’s 2020 sulphur cap. Other amendments that have come into force this year include the IMSBC Code 2017 amendment and the amendments to designate North Sea and Baltic Sea as ECAs, while the data collection on fuel oil consumption has also commenced.
Bunker delivery note amendments enter into force only a year before the limit for sulphur in fuel oil will be reduced to 0.50% m/m outside emission control areas (ECAs), from 3.5% currently. In ECAs, the limit will remain at 0.10% m/m.
The amendments to Appendix V of MARPOL Annex VI are intended to address situations where the fuel oil supplied does not meet low sulphur requirements, but has been supplied to Continue reading “Several IMO amendments have entered into force from 1st January 2019”
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