Container ship breaks in half and sinks

[Ivan Cloherty]

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Sad pictures for any seaman to look at, no matter what the cause. See there is a tank container at the bottom of a stow and the container on top looks ready to blow its top. Doubt very much that this section will ever reach port, but guess where there is life, there is hope.

[Tony Wilding]

have my doubts of her reaching port, wil be no evidence of what caused this disaster, i noticed the initial fracture was on a Tug Pushing Station.

[Tony Wilding]

latest photo, Freeboard much lower now, still 600miles from land,latest photo.jpg

[Tony Wilding]

mol comfort sinks, parted her towline and sank in 3000 meters,tug crew must be rally disappointed. all that wasted effort,

[Ivan Cloherty]

Being at sea I think we all realised the end was inevitable after the fire started, intense heat causing plate expansion thus weakening and plus tonnes of water being poured onto her which must have ingressed giving a stability problem. It may have been disappointing for the towing vessel, but few tugs these days work on Lloyds open form 'no cure no pay' basis, as most are now contracted by Underwriters or insurance companies and if coastlines are threatened then are contracted by the concerned State which passes on the cost to the insurance/underwriters, so the tug operator will get paid, but perhaps without a bonus .

I wonder what lessons have been learned (if any) about these large vessels which are getting larger with each launching. Mathematical modelling on computers and research tanks cannot, and I doubt ever will, replicate what the actual ocean can throw at you.

[Tony Wilding]

i agree with what you say about computer calculations and tank testing, the sad thing is the reason why it happened will never be known, structurally or cargo misinformation, seems a bit strange the sister ships will be strengthened to double of what is required, hyundai have orders from 2 companies for box boats even bigger than the latest maersk completion, due in 2015, she is over 1300 feet long, i think in my sea time an average freighter was around 500 feet, or less,