I still think the specialist car carriers that come in and out of the Solent are amongst the ugliest ships in the world . In fact I would go as far as to say they are the ugliest ships in the world
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I still think the specialist car carriers that come in and out of the Solent are amongst the ugliest ships in the world . In fact I would go as far as to say they are the ugliest ships in the world
Whenever I see one I think back to the old chartroom exams and having to allow for leeway to find the course to steer. They always remind me of a big sail and must in adverse wind and tide situations go like a big crab to make their destination. That is going from E to W must at times be steering NW if not even further to the N. Depending on the wind direction and in reverse if the wind opposite to what stated. JS
even with low height decks for cars , there must be a lot of top weight and not a lot of draught , shoe box comes to mind
There are some 50 containers at present drifting around the Australian coast, after falling off a container ship in heavy swells. There is a picture taken from the ship of them tumbling overboard on the internet.
As regards those huge vehicle carriers it seems that almost yearly one of them is involved in a incident. There was one in Southampton last year? Also I can recall at least two of them being involved in collisions and capsizing in the North sea. The Grimaldi one mentioned in the attachment I posted earlier, I was actually in the Kaloo locks waiting to enter the dock system where she was, when she capsized and we had to wait for over an hour whilst the ports oil spill vessel came into the lock to deal with oil leaking from it and also for the port to determine if it was safe to resume shipping movement in the dock system.
Going up to Antwerp there is a section where the Chanel narrows and involves two tight turns. In bad weather meeting one of those giant vehicle carriers could be scary as they would be steering some considerable degrees off the designated track to counteract leeway caused by the wind strength blowing at right angles to their heading.
Rgds
J.A.
###watched a car carrier coming into th tyne with a strong notheaster blowing ....the man at the wheel and the old man must have been laying eggs i did not think they would make it and expected her to whack the south pier.....more windage than a square rigger....at least a sailing vessel can lower sail......bad sea vessels .........cappy
This is the finding on the car carrier which capsized in the Solent a few years back. It was found that the weight of some of the cars were grossly underestimated , but the most telling comment was *unsafe practices had become the norm*, pretty amazing with all the laws for H@S we have today. I am in the middle of reading a book THE BOX by Mark Levinson, a really good read. We know that the method is much faster for shifting cargo, than in our days at sea, but the people who are really happy with the method it seems are smugglers for drugs etc, because the enormity of checking every box is impossible kt
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-35823182
Car carriers, we get them here ugly buggers is an understatement.
I have watched containers being loaded here in port Melbourne, they just drop one on to another and all there appears to be is some form of catch on the corners.
Cannot say I have seen very many crew examining them at that time.
Must ask my neighbor who works the cranes down there.
According ABC news Australia a container ship as lost 83 containers off he coast.
Vic
Hi All,
I have been out of the MN for many years, previously sailing as a Ginger beer on Australian and Bank Line ships. I remember as an Engineer Appy having to visually check the temps of reefers twice a day. The PLAN as detailed to me by the CEng was to take a ladder out on deck and climb up at each reefer if required on the second level and do the checks. That lasted a day.......As I was then young and nimble I used to get to each row and climb the lashing bars and shuffle across the row as required!!!
Anyway those were the practicalities....What I am now asking is are only the second level secured by lashing bars and the rest by twist locks? So when they lose boxes in a heavy sea......what 'usually" is the cause.......human error in the securing or failure of the twistlocks/ lashing bars?