Is she really a virgin if she has been poked by a ferry?
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Final update from December 24:
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The ferry ‘Ulysse’ is still dry-docked at Bizerta (Tunisia); maybe for a greater overhaul during the more quiet winter season.
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Yesterday, the container vessel “CSL Virginia / Virgin Star” left the Marmara Sea repair yard.
Now, she enters the Aegean Sea with her new AIS-destination given as Alang… RIP.
Now to be scrapped
Coming back on the earlier reports (https://gcaptain.com/human-error-idd-in-mediterranean-ro-ros-collision-with-containership/) from Tunisia via somewhere in W.Africa about blame, I just stumbled across this from BEA-MER (French version of MAIB), updated 15 Jan, with their translation:-
" Abordage entre le porte-conteneurs chypriote CSL VIRGINIA …
Au 15/01/2019 ,
l’enquête technique est toujours en cours. La France, Chypre, l’Italie et la Tunisie sont conjointement…
The investigation of this accident is still ongoing. France, Cyprus, Italy and Tunisia are jointly involved in the investigation. The investigation of an accident is considered to have been officially completed by the publication of a relevant report which focuses on the findings of the study of related evidence and information. Before the publication of the investigation report, conducted in accordance with IMO resolution MSC 255(84) and EU directive 2009/18/EC, any statements or publications that may refer to the causes of the accident as well as to the findings and recommendations resulting from the investigation, are merely rumours that do not bind France, Cyprus and Italy."
Note that Tunisia is missing from the ending rumour comment.
http://www.bea-mer.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/enquetes-en-cours-r18.html
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I was in France last week and it was mentioned that the final report is out. Finally getting around to posting it here:
http://www.bea-mer.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/beamer-fr_csl_virginia_-_ulysse_2018.pdf
First half in French, second half is repeat in English.
LOOKOUT!
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Cowboys…
That’s damning
Pretty much what everyone speculated when this first happened. Some really egregious things that stand out though.
A ferry operating with only one functional radar?
A ship at anchor with its radars in standby?
Everybody on their fucking phones?!?!
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The ferry was unseaworthy, an X band radar is required to be operational under the rules. As for the rest of the failings on a ferry carrying passengers almost unbelievable.
For the X-band radar, the English translation says ‘out of order’, while the French original says ‘on standby’. Minutes after the accident, the captain started the X-band radar…
This belongs to the ‘unbelievables’:
The port armchair had the running S-band radar screen in front.
The mate was sitting in the starboard chair and could not see the port screen; he saw the ECDIS (with connected S-band radar and AIS) and the sleeping X-band screen.
His chair was too low; he could not see the horizon…
My French is about 60 years past it’s use by date so I went straight to the English version.
The Frenglish is pretty strong in this one. I had to giggle at the timeline that said “Until12 November 2018, fight in coastal area.”
…then he sat slumped in this chair for a good half an hour, before looking at his watch and realizing that it was time to go make a plot, and went to do so without so much as a glance out the window.
This is some hall of shame level shit, right up there with the Lake Victoria ferry disasters.
Somewhere I read and article how long on average a car can stay parked in a highway break-down lane before it is struck. It depends on the distance away from the travel lane, It’s non-linear of course, double the distance and the time between strikes increases greatly.
Same here, it was a bad place to anchor. In heavy traffic it’s just a matter of time.
The other factor is mate on the ferry. Moral issues aside, 50% of mates are below average. In this case the mate was over due for relief, he might have already mentally checked out.
I have zero interest in making excuses for anyone, just by probability, if you don’t want to get hit don’t anchor in traffic, if you don’t want your ship to t-bone someone send the mates home on time. No guarantee of course, just playing the odds.
8 posts were split to a new topic: An off topic disscussion about the term average
Point of detail here, Urs, all other things I quite agree.
French p.4 says " bande X… image instable… hors service"
English p.37 says “x-band… out of order”
In normal use “hors service” or “h/s” means the same as “u/s” = unserviceable (or out-of-order) in every meaning we would use it in English - i.e. f#kt!
IMHO keeping it on, but in stand-by confirms to me they couldn’t use it!
(and, of course, the fact that the master was able to switch from Stby to Tx didn’t make it serviceable.)
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Reading the whole report in French and English, I am asking me, if the mate was a real mate, or just a ‘comical mate’ in a sitcom; without brain, his eyes scotched to his smartphone.
The captain didn’t see his useless behavior, and let him responsible of the ship, singlehanded?
Urs, you’ve mixed up the two ships (easy to do with that report) - the X-band radar on the CSL Virginia was in standby, and the master turned it on AFTER the impact. The X-band radar on Ulysse was out of order.
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You’re right! On p.14 (FR) and p.45 (EN) it is the Virginia radar/master. I missed that too.
Of course, dropping the hook in the convergence zone and then treating anchor watches as a formality isn’t the best of ideas, especially not in waters where the SOTUNAV boys come tearing through at regular intervals.
Much less confusing. 