MAERSK HONAM Mar 12 Update. Is Maersk too big to be safe?

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March 12, 2018 at 19:06 by Mikhail Voytenko in Accidents 
Maersk issued statement saying that three bodies of those four missing were found, yet unidentified. https://www.maerskline.com/news/2018/03/12/remains-of-three-out-of-four-missing-crews

Frankly, there was little hope from the very beginning, from the day when crew left the ship and those four poor souls went missing. Be they alive and more or less uninjured, they’d surely find ways to show their presence and be rescued days ago. There are accidents and there are accidents, in some hope remains long after they happen, in some there’s no hope, except hope for miracle, shortly after they happen.
As of 1430 UTC Mar 12, MAERSK HONAM and 5 tugs engaged in salvage were in vicinity 10 25N 066 20E, some 730 nm SW off Mumbai, slowly moving in NNE direction. Firefighting is still going on:

Specialized firefighting vessels remain engaged, with salvage operations led by Smit Salvage and Ardent – two best-in-class companies within maritime salvage operations. Maersk Line is cooperating with the salvors and has two Marine Engineers onsite, working closely with Smit and Ardent. – said Maersk. 

Discussions on risks and roots of container ships major fire gather way, with expectedly, no definite conclusions and recommendations, but that requires a special article, which hopefully, will be written soon. 

Meanwhile, I advise those interested, and first of all those involved, to read some thoughts and experience from Master of container ships Slavomir Palenda, in his comments to MAERSK HONAM Full story post http://maritimebulletin.net/2018/03/07/ultra-large-container-ship-maersk-honam-major-fire-crew-evacuated-4-missing/

Maersk container ships seem to be running into trouble at an increasing speed, here’s the list covering period from Aug last year until present day:
Container ship SOFIE MAERSK disabled since Mar 4 in North Pacific, Update Mar 12 – still drifting;
Major fire erupted on board of ULCS MAERSK HONAM on Mar 6 in Arabian sea;
Container ship MAERSK SHANGHAI lost containers in rough seas Mar 6;
Container ship EUGEN MAERSK troubled while leaving Hamburg Mar 4;
Container ship MAERSK ARAS limping back to Manzanillo Mar 2;
10000-TEU container ship MAERSK SUZHOU reportedly lost containers stack in North Atlantic Jan 6;
Container ship MAERSK NORFOLK ran aground at Alexandria Jan 2;
2017
Container ship MAERSK BOGOR allided with Berth, Novorossiysk Port, Nov 30;
Ultra large container ship MAERSK ENSHI collided with fishing vessel, 6 missing October 13;
Container ship MAERSK PEMBROKE fire, Celtic sea August 22.
Is it coincidence, some bad luck, temporary valley, which will turn into peak? I don’t know. The only thing I feel, though, is the gut feeling of deep mistrust of giant organizations, be they corporations or governments. I find them too uncontrollable to be reliable and trustworthy, for an individual or, when talking about corporations, minor client.
Voytenko Mikhail

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