Cruise ship Viking Sky in problem

My guess is in this situation using the engine just to keep the head in the wind would be sufficent to reduce the strain on the ground tackle. One risk on a rocky bottom is breaking a fluke.

Having diesel/electric in this situation instead of a low-speed diesel with limited starts would be very beneficial

The conditions on board the two small vessels that was first on the scene and stayed until the end must have been horrendous.
Here the tug Vivax:

And Coast Guard vessel KV Njord:
image

The Njord sustained minor damages due to being hit by a freak wave during the operation.

Latest re: Viking Sky:

Nothing about their destination yet.

As unsatisfying as it may be, I seem to be in same position as “still need more information”.

The project guide (application manual) for this engine (CR Tier III) is 470 pages long. It is heavy on the use as a geared drive application and light on the genset application AND there is a similar guide for the non-common rail system (Tier II, 272 pages) that speaks more to the engines use as a genset. Unfortunately they conflict a bit as to whether the engine is operating as a dry sump or wet sump. I’m assuming for now that it is more like a wet sump (as the Tier II guide shows) assuming again it was purchased as a “skid” with engine and generator mounted on a common foundation and the description below applies: (bold face added).

T-001/Lube oil service tank
The engine frame tank has the function of the lube oil service tank. The main
purpose is to separate air and particles from the lube oil, before being pum-
ped back to the engine. Even a low oil level should still permit the lube oil to
be drawn in free of air if the ship is pitching.

Regardless, the pump is never supposed to draw in air. If the sump is “built-in” so to speak the arrangement of pump suction in a well and location of alarms is more directly controlled by the engine builder whereas a dry sump would require the ship builder to build the “service tank” (as MAN calls it) including a pump suction well, suction piping, strainer, low level alarms , vents etc. More room for an issue to come up later.

Just as info, the manual shows it should be covered up to 7.5 degrees in dynamic pitching and to consider trim and list conditions (22.5 deg dynamic) could be simultaneous.

So really at this point I just have more questions.

  • How many DG’s were online at the time? Were remaining units in Standby?
  • Did all DG’s truly shut down simultaneously? If not what actions did power managament system take upon loss of first DG? etc, etc.
  • Had the ship operated in these conditions before?
  • Were low sump level alarms common and tolerated (normalizing the anomaly)? (“that light always comes on and off when we roll”)
  • Was ship pitching and rolling near the limits of the pump suction before the loss of propulsion?
  • Was any action requested to alter heading / speed to accommodate the limits? Did that have any effect?
  • If they were getting low level alarms what was the reaction to this? This time.
  • Did they get low LO pressure warning alarms before the shutdown pressure was reached?
  • What was the “real” experience of this crew with blackout recovery? (as opposed to table tops and exercises). How well do they know the plant?
  • Was the purifier in operation at the time? Is there one per engine or do they shift it around batch style?
  • What was the status of the LO transfer pump (if any)? Ready to go and add oil to an engine if needed even if purifier was normal way of adding oil?

Hoping they have looked into and will report on some of this as opposed to “oil level was too low”. I hope NTSB issues a report as well since they went to observe the proceedings.

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As per the website:

All scheduled sailings for the Viking Sky will be operating as planned from April 6.

https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html

So that I would think this is Copenhagen to Amsterdam as per the itinerary. This cruise states it is sold out.

https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/baltic/scandinavia-kiel-canal/pricing.html#search/sfym=2019-4&sftcm=tcm:13-97484

She needs to get underway on the afternoon of the 4th to make Copenhagen early on the 6th.

4 posts were split to a new topic: Anchored Vessels Behavior in Wind

Topic is the Viking Sky incident and it is suggested that there was a lubrication oil problem. All engines stopped, ship drifted, nobody died, etc. The proximate cause of the incident is still not known. Design fault that could not have been spotted by due diligence? Crew negligence? Heavy weather? Was the Master competent? Was the ship seaworthy for an inland trip Bodö/Stavanger? Nobody has so far been arrested or jailed. Had the Master drowned, it would have been easy to blame him for everything. When cruise ship M/S Costa Concordia contacted a rock January 2012 and almost sank, the Master was arrested at once. He was later sentenced to 16 years in jail for having killed passengers, etc. I consider him innocent. I look forward to the investigation of this incident. Maybe we can learn something.I am surprised that the ship can continue trading before the cause of incident has been clarified.

Thanks for that. Excellent clarification. Ive read a lot of conflicting comments since the event. I have NEVER seen this installation on such a ship, usually this kind of thing is “media worthy” and I have seen nothing. Especially since she is relatively new.

However, maybe this sheds some light on the accident overall. Since she drifted into such shallow waters, perhaps we start seeing the truth?? Was her rudder appendage subject to grounding at some point?? This might explain why power to three engines was restored, but she could not get underway on her own. Three of four gensets on this size ship is ample enough to get her propulsion on. It seems a bit more than just a ‘lube oil’ issue.

Excellent technical response, I appreciate the time in noting all your questions , too. Many are the same I have rolling around in my head. As you imply, this could not have happened so ‘suddenly’ and without warning or at least a history of happening before (alarms going, yes, ok, hit the “ack” button and go take a look).

The manual you refer to, is obviously going to be scrutinized (I would think) by so called regulating authorities and to see whether the watch engineers onboard were attending to engines “in accordance to the instructions”…at least as much as the instructions told them what to do.

Your comments about the dry sump or wet type are well noted. Again, these “marinized” diesel engine plants (of considerable size) I have always assumed were purpose built and designed to work continuously in an environment where it is moving, rolling, pitching, etc. Therefore, one would think that these manufacturers (certainly the engineers operating in such conditions) are reviewing the instructions, manuals, etc, about how to address this issue.

Finally, as a CHENG I know you would appreciate this… I’ve worked on tugs that were on some excruciatingly rough conditions between the islands in Hawaii. They are not long runs (longest tow maybe two days) but even an overnight run, the tug is subjected to large rolling, huge, deep pitching, yawing and swaying. The engines down below (all typically 4000-5000 HP) are subjected to such heavy motion.

So having had that experience, and thinking how we never had a “low lube oil” issue in such conditions, makes me fail to understand why larger ships are having this issue now? It’s not that the industry doesn’t have that experience base. But wondering if certain manufacturers or builders have lost the expertise to design and build it just right?

Or is there something else altogether they might not be sharing publicly???

Yes the so called “Regulating Authorities” (in this case NMA) and investigative entity (AIBN) will scrutinise manuals, electronic logs and other relevant material.

They will also interview all persons involved, both those on board and ashore, incl. machinery and equipment manufacturers and all other relevant persons that may be identified during the enquiry.

This will be done, not to find someone to blame, but to identify the direct and underlying problem(s) in order to avoid a repeat on other ships.

The lessons learnt will be shared with all relevant parties, either directly to the parties involved, or through multinational organisations. It MAY even end up in new rules and regulations by IMO for all member states to implement.

Those who followed what happened after the Alexander Kielland and Bourbon Dolphin accident would know how this is done.

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That I’ve seen the rules for air capable ships have landing limits such as no greater than so many degree pitch/roll and so many knots of wind from such a direction. I’d think the deck of a rig compared to a foundering ship in a storm isn’t the same. The danger isn’t the landing, it’s once it’s landed on a dynamic deck. This has nothing to do with skill or routine and more to do with physics. An aircraft on deck can bounce or skip, the blades can bend and touch deck or touch someone’s head. It’s much safer to remain airborne where pilots can stay away from the dynamic ship and can quickly power up and away if danger appears.

On rigs and offshore vessels there are rope nets stretched on the helideck to reduce the risk of skidding after landing and before wheel chocks can be positioned.
In the situation I described the Floatel was a semi-submersible laybarge and the platform the Statfjord B in 1981:


The operation of shuttling was routine every time the gangway had to be removed due to weather. 150-200 persons transferred each way by 3 x S-61 choppers in 1-1.5 hrs.

In the case of Viking Sky there were no helideck, or designated winching zone (AFAIK), thus the procedure was decided on the fly.

PS> I posted about a storm on Statfjord B/ LB 200 here:
Pictures of 70+ foot seas

If the assumption is made that the low oil level alarm was measuring oil levels accurately, and that it is correct that that the actual oil levels were above the required minimum as stated, than:

There should have been no lube oil low-level alarm and there was no reason for the engineers to think the they needed to add lube oil. This is true even if the oil pumps were in fact sucking air due to a design flaw.

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Of course you are right, no alarm no reason to take action. But…

If functioning correctly the low level alarm comes before the suctions are uncovered within the stated trim and list limits.

If a float hung up indicating not-low level but the level went down over time to the point ship motions at or beyond the design limits caused pumps to suck air and low pressure shut-down this raises a few questions like; was no one was checking level by stick? Could all 4 floats stick and engines consume oil such that all 4 shutdown near simultaneously?

A level alarm typically has a suppression time delay to tune out on/off nuisance alarms for rolling or normal trim/list variations. Could this feature have been abused? Where it became normal to increase the suppression time to get rid of the alarm vice just go checking manually or to make a change request to physically alter the float location? Someone(s) kept increasing the time until one day ship motions allow suction to uncover before the “wave” of oil reset the float?

I don’t believe it is possible for any reputable operator to engage a crew that is not checking engine oil levels by hand very regularly and building an “experience factor” as to when alarm comes vs level on stick/tape. So I’m curious to see what combo of design, build and operation factors got 4 DG’s to shut-down more or less at the same time.

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Well, like you said, not enough info.

But what I’m getting at is that it’s been said that the oil levels were within acceptable limits, above the min and below the max. By stick or by sensor should have read OK.

So they would not necessarily get a low level alarm (averaging the data over time), in fact it the sensors and so forth are operating properly there should be no alarm, otherwise it would be a nuisance alarm.

If the oil pumps sucked air either the min/max was wrong or the ship took a roll beyond specs.

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Viking Sky left Kr.sund at 1550 hrs. L/T bound for Copenhagen. At the moment she is making >18 kts. and steaming south, keeping well off the coast.

PS> She is due here in Aalesund several times during the summer season. First visit already in early May.

Yes KC, as you and KPC have said not enough info, but I think you’re on the right track. The L/O sump low level alarm is a bit of a red herring. The response to receiving a low level alarm is to sound the suspect tank and the others but if the levels are within the limits, and the vessel is in a seaway, then it’s reasonable to decide that it’s due to the oil sloshing around. A low L/O level alarm is not to tell you that the pump is about to lose suction, it is supposed to be set well above that point for all trim and list limits. I’m willing to bet that the EOOW could have told you what the M/E oil levels were right off the top of their head without looking at the dips.

A large pax ship with propulsion and stabilizers working, sailing in weather it was designed to handle, should not have problems such as the L/O pumps gulping air. Yet this appears to be what happened and I’ll bet the engineers were as surprised as anyone that it could happen. Possibly a bad roll combined with L/O levels near the low range - these things are always a combination of events. It seems to be something like this as all the operating engines were affected.

Injunear’s comment about losing CAT 3612’s (similar-type engines) to the same issue and lowering the suction piping to fix it is very interesting. If I had designed the Viking Sky installation I’d have been in the office first thing Monday morning checking my calculations.

But once the propulsion shuts down things change a bit - for the worse. Now you’re wallowing in the trough with uncontrollable rolling and I can imagine the engines starting but then gulping some more air and shortly shutting down again.

We’re speculating of course, but it’s sure good to look at these scenarios without having to actually experience them.

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5 posts were split to a new topic: Cruise Ship Viking Sky Update