2 Likes
Relatively high approach speed into a dead end. Heavily laden at 14.6m and only two tugs ……shoulder and quarter. Where was the centre lead aft tug?
3 Likes
I guess the astern bell didn’t work so well.
1 Like
Also a tug without a line up is only useful in one direction.
2 Likes
Everything about this berthing is wrong. Look at the aspect just prior to allision.
3 Likes
2 Likes
Same thing, too fast, to much angle, and lack of a line on the bow tug, caused a crane knock down in Sydney when I was working there. As I recall vessel was found to be at fault. Pilots never responsible
Agree. Angle of approach too big with such a huge bow flare. Speed too high violating the old rule - less speed =less damage.
E = MxVxV/2 - kinetic energy
P= MxV momentum
Above formula should be known to 5th/6th graders in elementary school.
In the absence of some machinery failure it is a huge screw up
Speed shoud be no more then 1 kt at this particular position, ship should be almost parallel to the pier in this weather ,when there was no whiff of wind .
What the tugs were doing??. That is my view and i may be wrong of course not seeing the bridge team action and hearing voice but I am dying of curiosity what professional old salt Pilot has to say about this mess 
. Hello -long time no see and/or hear 
2 Likes
Hello,
The approach speed taken from the AIS screenshots was excessive in the early stages for a deep draft 368/51m box boat plus tug numbers and placement were not optimised to control the vessel in the potential event of engine failure. At two ship lengths off a dead end and relatively short berth, her SOG was 9.4 knots. This is very similar to the “Milano Bridge” episode.
This allision equates to four destroyed portainers and thankfully no loss of life. The outcome could have been a lot worse. The outcome has destroyed the entire container handling capacity of Evyapport and the irony is that two additional tugs are sitting idle at the adjacent berth.
This is not sound risk management.
1 Like
Got to agree with Ausmariner here.
There are many questions to ask but to me excessive speed must have been a major factor in this incident.
I have docked many vessels of this size and 2 tugs correctly deployed can be sufficient in benign conditions, even the deployment of them in this manner can be sufficient.
But
With the speed so high that close to the berth is reckless.
Did the shoulder tug part a line?
Did the engine fail to fire astern?
Why was the aspect so acute?
Why was the anchor not deployed?
Many questions but it all comes back to excessive speed.
I have been in a situation where an engine jammed, thankfully in my case astern, but I was reversing at increasing speed towards an adjacent berth and when you do the maths a single 70,000 shp main engine running at slow astern is no match for 2x 5000 shp tugs. At the point of deploying the anchors in desperation, and after telling the tugs to emergency let go for their own safety the engine stopped and then almost immediately fired ahead, thankfully the tugs had hung on and we recovered the situation with only a few more grey hairs for me. It was a smaller ship but at 265m was no coaster.
2 Likes
Just to add I had lost sight of the berth astern due to parallelax so it was blooming close.
I will not go into the cause of the failure of control as it would only pour fuel on the fire if the ship Vs Pilot argument but I will say that in a 23 year Carrer as a Pilot it was the only time I ever lost it with a ships Master
The other intangible involved in these incidents is the existence, or non existence, of Safety Operating Procedures. Procedures which have been tested under simulation and are port specific……fully agreed to by Senior Pilots and Port Management. Another step towards assisting in avoiding the one person accident. These are not guidelines……they are rules which are ably monitored by AIS.
Some individuals are quick to lay all the blame on the Pilot and in some cases that is appropriate yet if there are no SOP’s in place then the Port Management is also liable for a percentage of the blame.
Many observers pointed the finger of blame for the “Costa Concordia” on Shettino which is ill informed to say the least. There should have been strict procedures enacted by the company forbidding the sail past. 38 people would still be alive and Schettino would still be chasing the European dancer. Yes, Schettino was I’ll equipped but where was the company edict?
2 Likes
So the Captain could not find emergency stop push button of the M/E on the bridge, what is a SOLAS requirement. It is nothing special as it cuts the fuel and finito de la musica.
Are You sure??? so explain please how he managed to chase with such zeal and passion the european dancers. ?? or hookers
I remember that hours after the accident there were some news joints reporting the texts of satcom tlx/emails from company capo di tutti capi , pressing masters to get as close to the island as possible for show and PR purposes and that was a commercial pressure and of course it casued competition among captains .
None of this shore side slackers son’s of bitches got jail term except Schettino -the fall guy . And of course all traces of such instructions to masters quickly disappered from the media. Guess why ???
Forgot to say , some label him as hero who saved many lives having cool enough mind to ground the ship thus preventing it from sudden sinking with catastrophic loss of life.
1 Like
Sal has just posted his thoughts.
2 Likes
I would not label him a hero but a victim of good weather circumstances.
After the allision she drifted into 100m of water and fortunately there was an onshore breeze which pushed her back onto Giglio shoal ground. Had he decided to stabilise the vessel in 100m, the death count would have been horrendous.
2 Likes
Totally agree. It should be in the SOP’s (assuming that they exist) that all attending tugs are made fast.
1 Like
On January 12, 2012, 21:45:19, Concordia hit the rock just S of Giglio port, with quasi-immediate loss of propulsion.
At 21:46:52, loss of steering and general blackout.
Then the ship advanced to N on her inertia (7 knots just after the contact), later the stronger wind NE off the island pushed her back to Giglio port.
At 22:40, the ship stranded just off Giglio port.
Schettino could not do anything to save something; probably a 'higher authority’ prevented him from doing more idiocies.
4 Likes
That’s a good video, only 11 minutes, worth a watch.
An insanely fast approach. It’s possible there wasn’t time to make the second tug fast. The crew did manage to get both anchors down.
After watching the video I wonder if the pilot even made it to the wheelhouse? Or even managed to get aboard?
Wan’t there but from the video looks like the only way out with that speed was a round turn.
1 Like