Selected items from compilation of Intership Navigation Training Center. Issue 24 / 2010

1. CASUALTY WEBRIEF

M/T KEMAL KA (Turkey, 13581dwt) off Spain had an explosion o/b. The bosun died in a helicopter on the way to hospital, while the chief officer and a crewman were injured. 10-June-2010

M/T CHEMTRANS ALSTER (Liberia) was hard grounded on a reef near Tuxpan, 10-June-2010. No injury and no pollution. After 5 days, the efforts to refloat the tanker have so far been unsuccessful.

Tug KORAKI (New Zealand) had a fire in the engine room in the Hauraki Gulf, about 11 miles from Aukland, 15-June-2010. Mayday call was sent and the 5-crew abandoned the vessel and boarded a liferaft. They were rescued by a Coastguard vessel. The fire was extinguished.

M/V JOSCO NANJING (Hong Kong, 27162gt) while transiting southbound in the Bosphorus Strait suffered rudder failure, 12-June-2010. The vessel drifted to Kurucesme and collided with other ships. The vessel was imposed with a fine.

Ferry COMMODORE CLIPPER (UK), Portsmouth for Jersey, caught fire in the vehicle deck and had a steering problem. Fire was extinguished. No injury to all 62-passengers and 39-crew. 16-June-2010.

F/V MAJESTIC BLUE w/ 24-crew, sank in the Pacific Ocean, some 925 miles NW of A.Samoa, 13-June-2010. 22 crew were rescued by a sister vessel but 2 are still missing. USCG HC-130 Hercules aircraft is assisting in the search.

2. PIRACY

Vehicle carrier ASIAN GLORY (UK, 13363dwt), w/ 25-crew (8 Bulgarians, 2 Romanians, 10 Ukrainians and 5 Indians) and cargo of 2305 Korea-made cars, was released by pirates near Garacad, Somalia, 11-June-2010. A ransom drop was made to the pirates on board. The ship was hijacked 1-Jan-2010 some 900 miles N of Seychelles or some 600 miles E of Somalia.

c.c. OZAY-6 (Turkey, 11505dwt) was fired upon by pirates, about 14 miles off Ghana, 12-June-2010.  The pirates boarded the ship and robbed the crew of their valuable belongings.

M/T AI DING HU (China) in 3-13.5N 105-29.4E, 10m NW of Pulau Munkai, Indonesia. Six robbers boarded the vessel from a high-speed boat and robbed some cash, then left. Crew unharmed.

at pos 03-01.9N -108-15.75E, S.China Sea. Six armed pirates boarded a containership underway from the stern. They entered the master’s cabin and stole ships cash and crew personal properties. They took hostage the master and purser during the attack. Pirates later escaped. 16-June-2010

4. A CASE OF POOR PASSAGE PLANNING

“A bulk carrier grounded heavily as it slowed to pick up a pilot while inward-bound to a discharge port. The ship was set off course by a strong cross-tide and struck a shoal that was clearly marked on the chart. Professional salvors refloated the ship but the grounding had caused it significant damage. The investigation into the many causative factors highlighted that the effect of tides and tidal streams was completely absent from the entire passage plan, which is contrary to the requirements of Chapter V of SOLAS. That the ship would be set across the track should have been clear from the information provided in the tidal table printed on the chart. But the failure to allow for set was even more surprising given that the ship had been at anchor for several days and had to reposition after the strong tides caused the anchor to drag.” (from londonpandi)

5. POLLUTION CASES

M/T WISDOM (Liberia, 16282gt) is facing more than $171,000 damage costs for spilling oil into the waters while at Illichvsk, Ukraine, 5-June-2010. The NW Black Sea State Environmental Inspectorate has filed the claim for damages.

M/T PRESTIGE (Bahamas, 42820gt)’s P&I Club is being looked into for a € 2.23 billion compensation for the disaster by the public prosecutor in Spain, 13-June-2010. The tanker sank near Galicia, Spain in Nov-2002 and spilled about 64,000 tons of crude oil. Thousands kilometer of beaches on the French and Spanish coast were polluted. Local fishing industry suffered great damage. After the accident, the public prosecutor recommended to the court a 12-year jail term for the master. The master, after 83 days in jail was released after bail was paid.  

Update of DEEPWATER HORIZON, 16-June-2010: US President announced that BP has agreed to set aside $20 billion in an escrow account to pay economic damage claims to people and businesses that have been affected by the oil spill. NOAA expands Fishing Closed area in Gulf of Mexico federal waters now representing 80,806 miles. BP continues to capture some oil and burn some gas at the surface using its containment dome technique. After cutting off a portion of the riser, BP placed a containment device over it in order to capture oil at its source.

More than 210 burns have been conducted to remove a total of 5.2 million gallons of oil from the water to date. Approx 52.6 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline is currently experiencing impacts from BP’s leaking oil- 34.8 miles in Louisiana, 0.9 miles in Mississippi, 9.9 miles in Alabama, and 7 miles in Florida.  See more info at www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com