July 10: Mitsui O.S.K. Lines issued press-release informing that fire is still raging, most of the containers on the deck were destroyed, according to visual observance. Checking the condition of the containers in the holds appears to be impossible. MOL and Indian Coast Guard, whose ship Samudra Prahari continues fire fighting, blame the adverse weather, hampering salvage efforts. According to ICG information as cited by Indian media, some 90% of all the containers on board of the fore section have been already destroyed. One should be careful with the info provided by ICG, but this time it seems to be true.
Nobody knows, including MOL, what exactly what was loaded into quite a number of containers stack on board of the fore section – on board of any ocean-going container ship. It’s a well-known fact, that in order to save on freight, shippers often declare dangerous goods as some harmless items. MOL Comfort could carry materials compared in effect to weapons of mass destruction, if leaked or inflamed or mixed with sea water. Burned out or still burning, MOL Comfort remnants may pose a grave threat to a coast or a port it’s been towed to. That’s what makes the container ship on fire so frustratingly dangerous in case of major fire – lack of knowledge of the character of quite a number of cargoes on board.
If my calculations regarding fore position and movements are correct, then, the salvage team, which includes three tugs and ICG ship Samudra Prahari, is sweating itself off trying to tow the fore section further to the sea.
If my calculations regarding fore position and movements are correct, then, the salvage team, which includes three tugs and ICG ship Samudra Prahari, is sweating itself off trying to tow the fore section further to the sea.
I can’t but pity vessel itself and MOL Company, with such an awful piece of bad luck. First, broking in two, and second, catching up with major fire. All the faults of present day major container ships mixed up together and destroyed a fine modern vessel with goods on board worth hundreds of millions dollars.
There is a high probability of some initial, basic flaw in design of modern big container ships, making them vulnerable to wrongly calculated weight distribution due to wrongly declared weights. If structural strength was strong enough to withstand misplaced weights along the hull, with sufficient safety margin, it wouldn’t happen. Actually, modern container giants should be designed initially on an assumption, that there will be wrong weight distribution, because such wrong weight distribution is inevitable under the present system of declaring goods in containers and their loading. Obviously this is not the case, and the designers (and ship owners – major carriers) are concerned with fuel efficiency (disguised by very convenient “Green Planet” frenzy) and operational cost per container much more, than they’re concerned with the safety, because under present system, providing sufficient safety will be devastatingly costly.
Designed and built as cost-effective and profit-efficient monstrous tools for major carriers fighting in a madly overheated market race for survival and top positions in the sector, those container giants are prone to major disasters, which may be triggered by a fire in one container (in one box among hundreds loaded into one container, actually) among thousands on board, or by sailing through heavy seas.
Designed and built as cost-effective and profit-efficient monstrous tools for major carriers fighting in a madly overheated market race for survival and top positions in the sector, those container giants are prone to major disasters, which may be triggered by a fire in one container (in one box among hundreds loaded into one container, actually) among thousands on board, or by sailing through heavy seas.
Voytenko Mikhail
Update (No.26): Incident Involving the Containership MOL Comfort
TOKYO- Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President: Koichi Muto) reports the fore part of the containershipMOL Comfort sank in the high seas near 19'56"N 65'25"E (water depth about 3,000m) at 19:00 UTC on July 10 (04:00 on July 11 JST) as already reported in our updates no. 24 and no. 25.
While we had kept the salvage team in the area to monitor the situation of oil leakage and floating containers, no more oil film was observed. Most of the floating containers sank and could no longer be spotted. We reported the fact to Indian authorities, completed the monitoring, and the salvage team left the scene.
We have been proceeding with the thorough investigation to determine the cause of the incident.
MOL Comfort oil slick disperses, partner OOCL announces total loss
THE thin oil slick reported in the area where the forward section of the 8,000-TEU MOL Comfort sank off the Yemeni-Omani coast has dispersed and "most" of the floating containers have gone to the bottom.
"Most of the floating containers sank and could no longer be spotted," the Japanese shipping giant MOL reported in its latest communique. "While we kept a salvage team in the area to monitor the situation of oil leakage and floating containers, no oil film was observed.
"We have been proceeding with a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the incident," said MOL.
Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), MOL's alliance partner, notified customers of the total loss of the ship.
OOCL told customers the ship suffered extensive damage to the hull on June 17 in the Indian Ocean while travelling from Singapore to Jeddah in rough weather. Its after section sank on June 27.
"All the containers that were loaded on the vessel are now lost at sea. In your best interest, we recommend that you notify your insurer of this incident if your cargoes are insured," said the OOCL statement.
Some 1,600 tonnes of bunker fuel and other oils sank with the forward end of the ship while fire blazed when under tow in the Arabian Sea.
"About 2,400 containers on board the fore part of the vessel sank together, while some have been confirmed floating near the site," said MOL.
Once the two parts of the ship separated in heavy swells, the after section including the wheelhouse and crew's quarters wallowed in the swells for a few days after the men took to the boats before being picked up by Hapag-Lloyd's 10,000-TEU Yantian Express that happened to be passing in the busy trade lane.
Once the after section went down, a patrol boat stayed in the area, while deepsea tugs put the forward section under tow. In adverse weather, while under tow, the cables disconnected. Shortly after re-connection to the front end of the ship, fire broke out in the rear, first burning off the containers on deck and then continuing to burn out of control below deck, despite the efforts of fire fighting appliances.
MOL Comfort oil slick disperses, partner OOCL announces total loss
THE thin oil slick reported in the area where the forward section of the 8,000-TEU MOL Comfort sank off the Yemeni-Omani coast has dispersed and "most" of the floating containers have gone to the bottom.
"Most of the floating containers sank and could no longer be spotted," the Japanese shipping giant MOL reported in its latest communique. "While we kept a salvage team in the area to monitor the situation of oil leakage and floating containers, no oil film was observed.
"We have been proceeding with a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the incident," said MOL.
Hong Kong's Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), MOL's alliance partner, notified customers of the total loss of the ship.
OOCL told customers the ship suffered extensive damage to the hull on June 17 in the Indian Ocean while travelling from Singapore to Jeddah in rough weather. Its after section sank on June 27.
"All the containers that were loaded on the vessel are now lost at sea. In your best interest, we recommend that you notify your insurer of this incident if your cargoes are insured," said the OOCL statement.
Some 1,600 tonnes of bunker fuel and other oils sank with the forward end of the ship while fire blazed when under tow in the Arabian Sea.
"About 2,400 containers on board the fore part of the vessel sank together, while some have been confirmed floating near the site," said MOL.
Once the two parts of the ship separated in heavy swells, the after section including the wheelhouse and crew's quarters wallowed in the swells for a few days after the men took to the boats before being picked up by Hapag-Lloyd's 10,000-TEU Yantian Express that happened to be passing in the busy trade lane.
Once the after section went down, a patrol boat stayed in the area, while deepsea tugs put the forward section under tow. In adverse weather, while under tow, the cables disconnected. Shortly after re-connection to the front end of the ship, fire broke out in the rear, first burning off the containers on deck and then continuing to burn out of control below deck, despite the efforts of fire fighting appliances.
Under the leadership of ClassNK Executive Vice President Toshitomo Matsui, the ClassNK Casualty Investigation Team established in response to the 17 June 2013 casualty involving “MOL Comfort” in the Indian Ocean continues to work in close contact with Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), and government authorities to determine the cause of casualty.
As has been reported by MOL, the fore section of the MOL COMFORT, which was expected to provide investigators with valuable information on the cause of the casualty, sank on 11 July 2013.
In view of these unfortunate circumstances, the ClassNK Casualty Investigation Team will expedite the investigation into the cause of the incident, and expects to consolidate its preliminary findings by early September 2013.
Commenting on the situation today, they note: “ClassNK has the greatest respect for all parties involved for their hard work and efforts in response to this casualty, foremost among them the safe rescue of all the ship’s crew. ClassNK will continue to make every effort to determine the cause of this incident, and will work to ensure that the results of the investigation are used to secure greater safety for the maritime industry.”