Container ship breaks in half and sinks

[Robert T. Bush]

Like the builders, MOL and NK have good reputations.

It happens in the best of families.

Credit to the rescuers.

[John Cassels]

These incidents are accidents waiting to happen. Have long held the view that continuous loading discharging of these ships must
introduce a weakness BM's and SF's maybe OK at the time but say a complete discharge and then reload of a bay while the
adjacent bay stays untouched then done 10-12 times a year for 5 years must create weak areas.

[Tony Wilding]

Wikipedia have all the details, and the Ships, she is a a big lump, too big for Panama Canal, built of special Steel, Over 1000 feet long.

[j.sabourn]

Forget what year it was but a long time ago when hearing about the scantlings on new buildings being reduced due to the new types of paint and anti corrosives used in shipbuilding and such things. Steelwork on modern shipping never seemed to me to have the robustness of older tonnage. John Sabourn

[Tony Wilding]

every ship i worked on was constructed with rivets, those ships did not crack, the liberty ships did and it needed bands of rivets to stop it, maybe these monsters need the same preventive measures. From what i read on our site of cracks on ore and oil carriers, it happens too often. Box boats also. Maybe they are built to an incorrect formula , too much movement. Titanic was nigh on vertical befor she snapped.

[j.sabourn]

Tony I too sailed on riveted ships in the 50's. It was talked about among the seafaring communities of that era that rivets were better than welds. However from its first introduction welding has advanced in the general principles of and will probably now find is stronger in shipbuilding than a riveted hull and this is probably the concensus of opinion today. When a crack appeared around a rivet the only way you could hope to arrest was by drilling a hole at the end of the crack in the hope of arresting it advancing. Most ships carry welding plants now and many jobs around the ship are done with such, have even tried myself but found I had problems keeping the rod the correct distance from the weld, everyone to his own trade. For serious welding of certain parts of a ship a certificated welder has to be used as like most things some have to be done by professional people, believe they are called graded welders or something like that. A ships engineer would be more advanced on this subject than most of us. Regards John Sabourn

[robpage]

The most common standard to my understanding in the American one ASME 9 http://www.gowelding.com/wp/asme.htmIt is my belief that most shipbuilding welds now would be machine welds done automatically and to a high standard , I know the early welds done in the 1940s had quality problems. Caused by poor welds , and incorrect procedures ,

[Tony Wilding]

it seems no matter how big ships are built, in the end the sea has the last word, am convinced ship designers have no real ideas of sea conditions. Impossible to simulate in a tank with a model, have seen many models afloat, all look good untill underway, then its a giveaway, wave and wash formations all out of scale, cant scale down the density of water in relation to the model, so how can tank testing be accurate, ? My opinion is ships have become too big, still are, latest mearsk box boats, then bigger ones will be built, and so it goes on, cruise ships the same. Lucky this one broke where she did, much further aft and that end would become unstable, very lucky no loss of life, the sea conditions were not extreme, another problem with box boats is reliance on given weights of containers, no checks appear to be made, surely it would be possible for the loading crane to be able to measure each lift against the manifest weight , ? It was stated she could have been in a hogged condition befor she sailed, too much reliance on shippers declarations. Spot checks should be made on weights. More events like this will happen, i hope both halves make port, maybe some answers then.

[happy daze john in oz]

Do such ships still have expansion plates? I know most of the cruisae ships do but not sure about containers. But the fact both hlaves are still aflost the majority of the ship must have been well built.

[j.sabourn]

Remember one ship I was on going from Honolulu to South Korea. During heavy weather one of the derrick crutches carried away and a section of handrails distorted and welds broken. The master was on the point of retiring and had been on the Liner trade all his life. He said to me he had sent a cable to the owners and told me he expected a superintendant out from the uk to see to the repairs. I told him that was not the way the company worked. The answer came back to tell the mate to arrange shore labour and to advice them the costs after job completed. The master was a nice old bloke but as have suggested the difference the way some ships were run in different posts, he couldn't get his head round the H.K. articles bit. After arriving in Seoul he came to my cabin to say cheerio as he was off home, this was out of the blue. He said I have waited 50 years to be able to do this and off he went. I carried on with the repairs and first offered the engineers (Indian) the job, which they didn't want so hired shore labour which was coppers and was only minor repairs. After South Korea I took the ship to Japan and told the owners to arrange another master. In those days I was not looking for promotion as preferred to play the field.As regards welding I don't think I have ever sailed with European seagoing engineers where there wasn't at least one of them who could weld, and if not most would give it a bash.Cheers John Sabourn