A bulk carrier reportedly carrying nickel ore has gone missing off the coast of Indonesia sparking fears over the fate of the ship and its 25 crew members.
A major search was underway Monday after contact was lost with the 189-meter MV Nur Allya on August 20 as the ship was sailing from Weda to Makassar, Indonesia, according to Indonesia’s Antara News Agency.
The last known location of the vessel was reported to be approximately 44 nautical miles from Namlea, Indonesia, located off the north-east coast of the island of Buru.
The search is continuing off the coast of Indonesia for the missing bulker carrier Nur Allya and its 25 crew members more than a week after its disappearance.
Quite amazing that a vessel of this size can disappear with all hands in the benign waters of the Moluccas.
I sailed in these waters and hardly ever saw seas that should cause a 50000 DWT Bulker to roll much, especially with a heavy cargo like Nickel ore.
Liquefaction is a logical cause, but what made the cargo start to slide to one side unless there were some rolling, or permanent list to set it off?
It been a while but I remember this was an issue when loading silica sand on a small cargo ship in the Netherlands for transport to Norway back in 1965. This required a temporary wooden bulkhead to be erected along the C/L of the hold. The cargo was also levelled out to give min. possibilities of sliding.
On another ship loading Titanium ore in Norway for the Netherlands, no such precautions were taken, The cargo formed only a little “lump” in the middle of the holds. The ship was specially designed and strengthened to load very heavy ore though.
It has been too long since I had anything to do with bulk loading. Anybody here with fresher knowledge and experience that could clarify how this is normally handled today?