What do you mean? By sailing, she has a working propulsion system and no hull damage. The only thing is that if she meets more bad weather she will probably loose even more containers.
Ah yes, when comparing the horizon with the standing container next to the funnel (Smokestack) there is a slight list/roll, but not 15 degr.
I bet that was a noisy evening…
1 Like
People may yet be killed as the lost containers join all the other objects floating around the oceans beneath the surface waiting for a yacht or race boat to run into it and sink.
2 Likes
The storm was big but not huge. Between weather routing and proper lashing this shouldn’t happen.
2 Likes
If the permanent list is 15° starboard, it is not easy to run any ship. You cannot walk around on the ship. Best solution is to tow the ship to a port and to lift off the crew to safety. The crew cannot do anything on a ship with 15° permanent list.
If you can’t walk on a deck with a 15% list, you best stay in bed at home.
9 Likes
Can you explain why this is a list and not a roll? Crystal ball gazing?
3 Likes
Rolling 15° is dynamic around a 0° equilibrium.
A 15° list is static when cargo has shifted away from 0° equilibrium to a new equilibrium. To walk on a slope at 15° is quite difficult. Easy to slip.
I would say that a ship at 15° list cannot be navigated safely.
I have been informed that the Ocean Network Express (ONE) ship has now turned around and is headed to the Japanese port of Kobe, set to arrive on Tuesday 8 December. Good luck. Maybe they have ballasted her to reduce the list.
I don’t find it laughable. We are all aware of the stresses/jobs while in port. In/out as fast as you can with minimal crew. My son worked Maersk box ships when he sailed, still works them now and many others as whatever title on his mailbox in port. He understands from both seagoing and shoreside expectations. The pace is rather quick, and perhaps too much relying on the ILA/stevedores to make sure the lashings are done well. Luckily, he has a former pal from wrestling that is a VMI grad that runs the lashing crew. It will be done correctly. The mates and captains have their hands full just to make a deadline. Believe me, I know the difference between a good lash crew and a bad one .I ,nor anyone else on this site can control the weather, our job is to avoid it, no matter what the office efficiency experts think we should “Make the schedule”.
1 Like
Are you talking about the photo posted by Dutchie? That’s less than 5° if you line up a protractor with the last container stack which appears to still be lined up with the exhaust stack that you can see extending above the center.
What is your source for a 15° list?
This is the second major container collapse for ONE since the end of October when they had the Aquila divert to Tacoma. The Aquila was also blamed on bad weather. Seems to me like the underlying issue just might be that someone sucks at weather routing.
2 Likes
With regards to lashing, from what I can see lashing rods only get up to the 3rd (possibly 4th) tier. When you stacked 8 high an awful lot is expected of twistlocks to hold things in place on a roll. All it takes is a few to fail or not be the locked position to have a cascading failure of significant magnitude.
5 Likes
Maybe time to limit the number and height of containers that can be stacked on deck?
That will take time, I know.
2 Likes
I prepared this earlier for the MSC Zoe.
The guidance for container lashings where the maximum permissible lateral acceleration of containers is set to 0.8g=7.848m/s2
Acceleration is shown here as function of roll angle and container height. The acceleration forces increase considerably with container height, especially for rolls above 20°. Reducing the container height will be very helpful to reduce the acceleration and thus the damage to the containers. I am afraid that the owners will fight this…
1 Like
That’s what I was thinking. I’m am not a container guy but if you are going to stack boxes 8 high then they should not depend on wire lashings but some firm structure. Also, given the cost of the loss maybe routing South would have been smarter. I think there needs to be a rethink on how they build these super container ships with all those open boxes. Lucky they don’t have a fire from something spilling and igniting in one of the boxes.
2 Likes
Maybe helpful if the insurers/underwriters put their foot down and rates up for anything higher than x mtr.?
Of course there are a lot of variables, like size of ship, weight of containers, stability and area of operation etc., so difficult to legislate fairly.
Maybe better to have a max height/weight of containers above fixed cell structure?:
1 Like
Bug, a darn good idea. You and I know the owners/profiteers will reject a sane idea. However, maybe ,perhaps the insurers may have a bigger play in this in the future. Rates versus losses is certainly in play.
The shipping companies will argue that the number of lost containers is in decline in the last number of years. The lost containers represent a small percentage of total annual cargo volume shipped each year. However, containers lost at sea continue to pose a great threat to vessel safety, given the enormous cargo volumes transported by container lines annually.
Based on data received over a 12-year period, the WSC has estimated that, on average, a total of 1,382 containers are lost at sea each year. However, in their latest update, published on 10 July 2020, they also confirmed that the three-year moving average is in decline. Indeed, the average yearly container losses reported from 2017 to 2019 was almost half the number of losses reported between 2014 and 2016, with an average of 779 containers lost per year.
I’m sorry the nuances of the English language passed you by. I found no humour in the status quo.
The problem is not one single element . The lashings are by themselves adequate for a single container in theory, when applied according to the lashing plan but, when applied to a dynamic structure such as a ship, they are subjected to addition torsional and bending forces. The failure of one element leads to the failure of many.
The longer lashing rods are easily handled by a strapping young American football player, but are more than a handful for lashing gangs in other parts of the world.
When we take into account that the lashing is often completed in very poor lighting conditions at night, in poor weather and is subject to inspection by a single responsible officer, it is a testament to the stevedores that so often the lashing are correctly fitted.
3 Likes
There used to be something called; “On Deck at Shippers Risk”.
Maybe not applicable to Container ships. (??)