It’s the shore-based cargo-handling infrastructure,
not ship design, that will restrict container-ship size, predicted one naval architect.
Overall US maritime cargo volumes in the Great Lakes region
are recovering from the extreme lows experienced in 2009. The US Great Lakes maritime
industry is generally healthy and providing efficient, safe, and environmentally
friendly transportation services.
Planning to exploit the Arctic for oil and gas exploration
and shipping is “intellectual masturbation,” claimed one energy consultant. The
problem is that many plans for the Arctic overlook the human element. The harsh
environment, with its thick ice, storms, and darkness, is excessively challenging
for seafarers and rig workers.
Thin Places and Hard Knocks
The bulker Harita Bauxite sank in Philippine waters
probably because heavy rolling caused its cargo to shift and the crew was unable
to correct the listing because ballast pumps could not be started as a result of
a power failure. The lone fatality in the crew of 24 was vessel’s Myanmar chief
cook. The ship was reportedly carrying a cargo of nickel ore from Obi, Indonesia
to China. (Nickel ore is a dangerous cargo if too wet and has sunk many ships. The
ore slides and the vessel may take an irremediable list.) At Port Klang in Malaysia,
the ro/pax Fajar Samudera sank in the deepest part of the port. It had been
under detention for more than three years.
While maneuvering at Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia,
the container ship Maersk Kotka hit fleetmate Maersk Kalmar. The Maersk
Kalmar was heavily damaged. While passing through the crowded Strait of
Singapore. the containership Thuan My suddenly veered across of the
bow of the bulker Beks Halil. Remarkably, only a cargo hatch on the Thuan
My was damaged. In Australia at Freemantle, the fully loaded cargo ship
Princess
Mary lost power, “nudged into the North quay,“ and then ran aground.
Some helmsmen seem to be fascinated by lighthouses and
steer for them. That might have been what happened when the LPG carrier Carnival
(ex-Josefa
Gabtriela Silang) ran aground 100 meters from the Aqutaya lighthouse in
the southern Philippines. But the ship was actually trying to avoid several fishing
boats. The vessel was freed the next day by sister-ship BC 2. In the Suez Canal, the
crude oil tanker Volga grounded at Km 42 when engine failure led to loss of rudder
control. Prompt response by Canal authorities got the tanker free in a little over
four hours. Also in Egypt but at the entrance of the Suez Canal, the container ship
CMA
CGM Chopin ran aground at Buoy No. 80.
Off the coast of Portugal, the chemical tanker Harbour
Krystal carrying light virgin naphtha for Amsterdam had an explosion and
fire. One crewman could not be accounted for but all tanks were still intact. While
en route to Brazil, the ore carrier Stellar Eagle had a fire on board. The
crew contained the fire but one of them needed medical evacuation. While anchored
off Luanda, the container ship Niledutch Cape Town had an engineroom
fire. The crew quenched the fire, the ship was towed to a berth and unloaded, and
then the tug Fairplay 30 towed the damaged ship to Cape Town for permanent repairs.
At Hamburg, observers noted smoke coming from the cargo vessel Cap Diego.
(It was due to welding work that set insulation to smoldering.) The next morning,
fumes were detected in the No. 4 hold so the insulation was torn out.
The parents of a drowned sailor shared the same rope when
they committed suicide by hanging in their residence in Arakkonam
in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. They blamed the government and the shipping
agency for negligence and inaction after the tanker Pratibha Cauvery ran aground
off the Chennai Coast last October. Their son died when a lifeboat capsized while
trying to reach the Besant Nagar Beach.
At Puerto Limon in Costa Rico, a ship’s crane on the container
ship Freemantle
Express was being used to place a “pontoon” (cargo hatch cover) over a hold
when the pontoon somehow became detached and fell onto sixteen containers. Multiple
dents resulted. Two large pieces of a 50-foot Hatteras motorboat, a body, ten lifejackets,
flares, and an oil sheen were discovered floating 22 miles off Jacksonville, Florida.
The body belonged to a Venezuelan. Authorities learned that two other Venezuelans
had been on board and probably an American boat captain. At Oakland, California,
a large barge-mounted crane was removing a temporary structure on the new eastern
span of the Bay Bridge when a 129-ton piece slipped out a carry basket and dropped
into the harbor. Said a nearby security guard, "It sounded like a jet, like
something taking off, so we all looked to the sky. The rushing was followed by a
clanking sound, then an immense splash”
Gray Fleets
It took ten, highly specialized vessels to dismantle
the mine countermeasures vessel USS Guardian, stranded on the edge of
Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines. As best I understand the process, the massive
crane on the pipelay construction ship Jascon-25 plucks off a chunk of the Guardian,
swings it over onto the deck barge S-7000, which is then towed by the Trabajador-1
to the smaller crane ship Smit Borneo anchored nearby in deeper
water. It offloads the chunk onto the Archon Tide for transport to a disposal
site.
At one time, the Guardian salvage fleet consisted
of the JASCON-25, the SMIT Borneo, the salvage ships USNS Salvor
and USNS Safeguard, the large Navy cargo-carrier USNS Wally
Schirra, the Archon Tide (an anchor-handling tug supply
boat), Intrepid (an otherwise unidentified tug), and the salvage tug Trabajador-1,
Malay Towage’s barge S-7000, and the Philippine Coast Guard
search-and-rescue vessel BRP Pampanga.
The US Navy is on a synthetic-fuel kick, purportedly to
make sure it will never depend on oil from unfriendly nations, but eyebrows (particularly
those of appropriations-rival Air Force) were raised when among the various bio-fuels
the US Navy has purchased were 55 gallons (one barrelful) of “cobalt n-Butanol to
Jet fuel” at $245,000 or $ 4,454.55 per gallon. No doubt that price included some
R&D.
The 4,800-ton Trafalgar-class hunter-killer sub HMS Tireless
may be getting tired. While on training exercises for new officers off Scotland’s
west coast, a coolant leak was contained within the reactor compartment. The leak
"posed no risk to the public, the environment or the crew," but it is
not known how long it would take to repair the 28-year-old submarine, expected to
be decommissioned this year.
The Royal Navy has a new medium-range 3D surveillance
radar that is five times more efficient than any radar currently used by the fleet.
It can detect a tennis ball travelling at three times the speed of sound when more
than 15 miles away and is capable of monitoring more than 800 objects at the same
time. (So can it track 800 super-sonic tennis balls 15 miles away?)
White Fleets
The cruise ship Carnival Triumph received the world’s
attention when a fire disabled its engines soon after leaving Cozumel, Mexico. Quickly
extinguished by automatic systems, the fire left the ship powerless. That meant
its nearly 3,200 passengers were bereft of cruise-ship niceties such as air conditioning,
hot meals, flushable toilets, elevators, cellphone connectivity to land-based cell
towers, and arcade games. Since the ship was only 150 miles out from the Yucatán
Peninsula, the initial decision was to return to a shipyard at Progreso. However,
when the Mexican- flagged, Progreso-based tug Dabhol arrived, the Gulf of
Mexico’s Loop Current had carried the Triumph 90 miles to the north so the
destination was changed to Mobile, Alabama and the American salvage ship Resolve
Pioneer was ordered to set out from Key West.
Upon arrival, it took the Triumph in tow at a steady
5-6 mph while the Dabhol, trailing on a
stern line, provided corrective nudges whenever the Triumph veered off course. Other members of the
Carnival fleet (Carnival Elation, Carnival Legend, Carnival
Conquest) stopped by to ferry over food including hot meals, water, and
supplies. Perhaps most important for many passengers, they temporarily provided
cellphone connectivity to the media and anxious relatives.
Nearing Mobile, the Port Fourchon-based tug Roland
A. Falgout was ordered to join the convoy. Soon after its arrival, the pilot
in charge of the towing convoy ordered a speed-up to 7.5 mph. The additional speed
triggered unfixable winch problems on the Pioneer so the Falgout took over the tow. Harbor tugs Hawk and Lisa Cooper came out from Mobile to help steer the big ship in the
narrow channel to Mobile and soon after they docked the ship. Soon afterward, the
3,143 passengers debarked, most with stories to tell and fascinating memories for
the future. Later that day, the Carnival Triumph, with its deck and engineroom
crews still on board, was towed to a nearby shipyard for repairs – after all, the
next cruise was only two months away.
Most vacations end happily but not always. During a shore excursion
at Cozumel, a male passenger on the Elation drowned when swept away by an undercurrent. A giant wave washed two
elderly Americans into the sea while strolling on the beach near the famed stone
arch at Cabo San Lucas. The woman died and the man was listed in serious condition.
On the Carnival Miracle, a teenager died, probably from alcohol poisoning.
At Wellington, New Zealand, the Seabourn Odyssey lost all
power as it approached Aotea Quay and a Centreport tug continued towing the vessel
to its assigned berth. A problem in a power cable had become apparent when engineers
energized the bow thrusters for docking. Also at Wellington, the Centreport tug
Toia,
crowded with fifty guests of the city’s “Open Day” celebration, hit the lowered
landing stage of the Queen Elizabeth.
(How embarrassing!) The combined funnel-mast of the tug departed from the vertical
but the 40-year-old tug remained in service. About seventy miles from Panama City,
the expedition ship Sea Lion hit an uncharted
rock while departing an anchorage at the Las Perlas Islands. The propeller and hull
were damaged but none of the 55 passengers or 35 crew were hurt.
Those That Go
Back and Forth
You take a ride on New York’s Staten Island ferry and
it’s “free” but the real cost to New York taxpayers is $4.68, up 57% from a decade
earlier. But it was $5.69 in 2008!
The Sausalito-San Francisco ferry San Francisco
collided with a 22-foot boat near Raccoon Strait. One man on the small boat later
died of his injuries and the other man was seriously injured.
The Nova Scotia provincial government rejected both of
two proposals for renewing ferry service between Portland, Maine and Yarmouth, NS
even though one firm had already leased a suitable large ferry.
In Newfoundland, the Mayor of St. Brendan's (2011 population
of 147) was notably verbal about the provincial government's plans to shuffle around
its ferries to accommodate refit work. She wanted to make sure the community doesn’t
lose its ferry service.
In New Zealand, the interisland ferry Kaitaki
aborted its daily voyage across the Cook Strait to Picton and returned to
Wellington after an elderly woman suffered an apparent heart attack.
In Scotland, the operator of the small vehicular ferry
Island
Trader failed to hoist the bow ramp before setting off across the River
Clyde at Glasgow. Passengers were forced to jump on seats or retreat to the ferry’s
after areas. No prosecution of the skipper left some passengers quite angry.
In Wales, the ro/pax Finnarrow slammed into the
quay at Holyhead’s ferry terminal hard enough to disable itself. Rather low in the
water back aft due to a problem with the ship’s stabilizers, it was towed to a drydock
for attention while officials scurried to restore the ferry service to Dublin.
In the Turkish Black Sea port of Zonguldak, the ro/pax
Cenk
Y had a fire on its vehicle deck that started in the cooling unit of a citrus-laden
reefer truck and spread to other trailers. Ship and shore firefighters killed the
fire in two hours.
In Norway while entering the Troll Fjord, the ro/pax
Kong
Harold struck rocks. The bulbous bow took a bashing and a ballast tank was
breached but none of the 258 passengers or 57 crew were hurt. The ferry proceeded
to Svolvaer to unload passengers. From there, the ferry headed for a shipyard near
Åalesund.
At Singapore, the ferry Sea Hawk collided with the
coaster Budi Jasa 18. The coaster sank, killing one mariner.
Are you a government entity needing a new ferry? How about
a 200-foot-long vessel the world's first icebreaking catamaran capable of carrying
20 cars and 120 passengers? For free! In Alaska, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough has
an albatross around its neck. It accepted the $80 million ferry Susitna,
built partially with US Navy funds to explore the potential of an experimental landing
craft design, but it now sits at a Ketchikan dock, unused but eating up about $90,000
a month in dock fees and insurance. Writing applications for necessary permits,
their cost, and building the necessary landings means the ferry is essentially unusable,
hence the “ferry-for-free” offer. Said one assemblyman in dismay, "I would
look for the ray of sunshine in this, but I can't find it."
Legal Matters
Three people boarded the 82-foot sailboat Darlin
at Sausalito, California, carrying with them ample stocks of pizza
and beer. They then headed south on a joy ride but the yacht ran aground on a beach
near Pacifica. The owner recognized his luxury boat on TV news and called the police.
They persuaded the trio to surrender and they were held on suspicion of grand theft
conspiracy with the bail set at more than $1 million.
At Wellington, New Zealand, three men jumped off the back
of the Cook Strait ferry Santa Regina after he ferry had moored
at its Glasgow Wharf berth and shut down its engines. The trio received fines under
harbor by-laws. Navigation and safety bylaw 2.2 states that: without the permission
of the Harbormaster, no person may dive or swim within 50 meters of any structure
in the commercial wharf area.
Nature
The US National Hurricane Center revealed that Hurricane
Sandy was the second-costliest cyclone
to hit the USA since 1900. Preliminary damage estimates are near $50 billion. In
addition, there were at least 147 direct deaths recorded across the Atlantic basin
due to Sandy, 72 of them in the mid-Atlantic
and northeastern United States This was the greatest number of US direct fatalities
related to a tropical cyclone outside of the southern states since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Sandy made landfall late on 29 October near Brigantine, New Jersey,
but its tremendous size drove a catastrophic storm surge into the New Jersey and
New York coastlines.
NASA’s Aquarius instrument package in the Argentine SAC-D spacecraft (it was launched by an American rocket) has been
tracking salinity levels in the world’s oceans for over a year. The Aquarius sensor
detects the microwave emissivity of the top 1 to 2 centimeters (about an inch) of
ocean water – a physical property that varies depending on temperature and saltiness.
Visible have been seasonal pulses of freshwater from the Amazon River, an invisible
seam dividing the salty Arabian Sea from the fresher waters of the Bay of Bengal,
and a large patch of freshwater that appears in the eastern tropical Pacific in
the winter. But the most-prominent feature is a large patch of highly saline water
across the North Atlantic. This area, the saltiest anywhere in the open ocean, is
analogous to deserts on land, where little rainfall and a lot of evaporation occur.
Metal-Bashing
While the ultra-large container ship OOCL Brussels
was being tested by its Korean builder, the propeller was damaged and then shaft
bearings were damaged while parts were being removed for repair. The 13,208-TEU
newbuilding, part of an order for ten ultra-large container ships placed by the
line in 2011, will be delivered somewhat late.
The semi-submersible heavy-lift ship Xiang
Rui Koa left China for Dutch Harbor, Alaska where it was to pick up the
damaged Royal Shell Oil’s conical drillrig Kulluk, the focus of much recent media
attention when it broke free from multiple towing vessels multiple times off Alaska.
Destination? An unannounced repair facility, probably in the Far East.
At a shipyard in Germany, a stubborn fire attributed
to welding on the newbuilding cruise ship Norwegian Getaway did not affect the
nearby sister Norwegian Breakaway. Fire brigades from surrounding communities
were alerted after the shipyard’s forces did not succeed at first. Both gates of
the building hall were opened so that the smoke could be ventilated and the inhabitants
of Halte, Weener, and Stapelmoor were asked to keep their windows and doors closed
but the fire was under control within two hours.
A West Coast shipyard has ordered a very large floating
drydock from a Chinese builder. At 960 feet long and with a lifting capacity of
80,000 tons, it can handle all but the largest cruise ships and the owner expects
it may attract business from oil and gas exploration firms and other ship operators
taking advantage of longer ice-free Arctic summers. The dock will be towed to the
US in three pieces and its first job after assembly will probably be to prepare
the company’s smaller, Portland-based drydock for use at Seattle.
Odd Bits and Head-Shakers
Last July in mid-Atlantic, containers on the MSC Flaminia
caught fire. Weeks later, the stubborn fires were finally extinguished and the ship
was towed to Germany. There, 37,000 tons of contaminated water in its holds were
pumped into the product tanker OW Atlantic and transported to Nyborg
in Denmark where a company specializes in the incineration of wastewater with high
temperatures.
Shipping out lead, zinc, and other concentrates often
requires barging them several miles to bulkers in deep water. This is true at the
Red Dog mine in Alaska and also at the Port of Karumba on the Gulf of Carpentaria
in northern Australia. There the captain of the powered barge Wumna
noticed the vessel wouldn’t steer. The 1.6-ton rudder had fallen off and a week-long
search by side-scan sonar and a magnetic survey failed to find it. A replacement
rudder was ordered from Germany. (When it has steering, the Wumna
transports 5,000 dwt of concentrates at a time, or 1,000,000 tons per annum. Operating the barge has its risks. In February 2007, the barge was swamped and disabled
by Tropical Cyclone Nelson and the owners
were advised that the Wumna was “far from a typical seagoing
example.”)
Two elderly tugs of the Royal Navy’s ”Dog” class (all
originally named after breeds of dogs) slipped out of Newlyn in West Cornwall for
an unknown destination in spite of being detained because of major defects. The
Juliette
Pride 1 (ex-Sheepdog) and Juliette Pride 2 (ex-Huskie)
now fly the flag of Tanzania and are owned by a Nigerian oil trader who already
has four other “Dogs” supporting his tanker business.
A British charity shop was trying to sell some donated
videogames on eBay. Only a game about Pearl Harbor was sold and the winning bid
came from Japan.
