Bug, I agree., The people that refused entry are possibly culpable in some small/large way. Captain knew trouble was coming and sought some sort of relief.,The improper handling /packaging of the acid will come up with the lawyers, that was the start of the error chain…Sad to see that this could have been avoided if any port he requested had complied. He was trying to save his newly built ship.
I think that if governments expect some steely eyed captain who has X-ray vision and can see inside containers that are improperly stowed or contain undeclared dangerous goods they are going to improve the pay.
It looks like it’s sitting on the bottom aft.
Maybe something will happen when the insurers put pressure on shippers and shipping companies?? They don’t like loosing money, as you know:
https://www.asiainsurancepost.com/ecoinvestdemography/x-press-pearl-loss-will-add-insurers-container-ship-headaches
X-Press Pearl incident. X-Press Pearl - Wikipedia
MS X-Press Pearl was a brand new container feeder ship serving the Indian Ocean but only on its third voyage it caught fire and sank outside Colombo, Sri Lanka last week. It had loaded a tank container full with nitric acid (HCNO3), the container was stowed below deck and must have been damaged in the process, the acid leaked out and a fire started in the hold. The crew tried to stop the fire by filling the cargo hold with CO2 or unload the container somewhere but … no. CTL! + POLLUTION. I would have put the nitric acid container on deck at the side, so it could have been thrown overboard when leaking.
There is no shipping company in the world that has fed me enough to throw a tanktainer over the side. How do you know where it was stowed.
He heard voices in his somewhat confused head, that’s how.
Smit Salvage tried to tow the wreck to deeper water but were unsuccessful as by that time it was found to be grounded. So far the oil tanks are intact.
Actually the owner told me that the crew on mv X-Press Pearl observed that the container stowed in hold #2 leaked nitric acid but that the container could not be off-loaded at two ports prior arrival Colombo for various reasons.
they should of just driven it out past the environment…lol
It is a strange case. The ship’s crew knew about the leaking tank container in the hold two weeks before the sinking of the ship and just reported it. Nitric acid is very corrosive and best is to hose down the container and dilute the acid and flush away it and pump it overboard. But no. Another solution was to use the ship’s crane and off-load the container and drop it into the sea. But nothing was done. So what caused the CTL? CREW NEGLIGENCE! Normally you accuse the MASTER of the ship for everything aboard, but not in this case, the crew was at fault. It seems the shipping world is getting crazier every day.
I don’t know who at X-Press Feeders told you that, but *poor packaging" does to sound like the Nitric Acid was in ISO Container:
It could have been in small plastic bottles, or in larger plastic drums, shipped in dry containers:
From the Cargo Handlbook:
https://www.cargohandbook.com/Nitric_Acid
PS> Just curious; did somebody from X-Press Shipping call you for expert advice, or did you call them to offer it??
Thanks for a good laugh to start the day.
If the containers with Nitic Acid were stowed in the hold and there were several containers stowed on the hatch cover above, how would the crew get to them while at sea? Your expert advice please!!
PS> From early pictures and videos it appears that the fire is in containers on deck.
How do you expect crew to remove deck cargo, open hatch covers, dig in the hold to reach the leaking one ? With a vessel filled up to max capacity you simply have no space to stack temporarily all the containers to be shifted unless you have a barge moored along side. My experience as terminal operator is that crew members are not trained to operate the ships cranes for cargo operations other that swinging the jib to the sea side and back when in port. Very unfortunately the crew was left with no other option than to wait for a berth.
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If there is anything I would rather watch from a considerable distance (read miles) is an ordinary ship’s crane lifting a container at sea. Once all sorts of mayhem at been created then the best part to come - the pontoon lid.
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