[sparky@home]

The fully laden very large crude carrier (VLCC) New Diamond carrying about around 270,000 tons of Kuwaiti oil was bound for the port of Paradip located on the eastern coast of India when a fire broke out in the engine room. The tanker issued a distress call at about 40 miles south of Sri Lanka.
A Filipino sailor died when an explosion occurred in the engine room.
19 sailors were rescued by the commercial vessel Helen M, two by the Sri Lanka Navy ship Sayura, and one by the Navy ship Ranarisi, which landed a rescue party aboard New Diamond. 22 crew members were rescued and one person who sustained burn injuries was admitted to the Kalmunai Hospital. A total of four Sri Lankan ships responded to the incident, as well as a surveillance aircraft of the Sri Lanka Army. International responders included an Indian Coast Guard ship and three Indian Navy vessels, and two Russian Navy ships that were in Sri Lanka for scheduled exercises at the time. In addition, a MI-17 helicopter which is owned by the Sri Lanka Air Force was also deployed in the search operation.
Part of the tanker structure was damaged due to the intense heat from the diesel tanks as the fire spread from the engine room but did not spread to the oil cargo.
MT New Diamond / DWT 299986 / LOA 333.0M / Beam 60.0 M
From what I see, the only positive line on the horizon, is that no cargo leakage took place, which if it had taken place would have been a catastrophe for the sri Lankan coast line and also the south Indian coast.

Mods: Kindly re post if necessary or delete if needed, I did not see any thread on this topic.

[srini1785]

Looks like a nasty accident. RIP to the poor man who died.

Noob question:

What next now?. I am assuming that the ship would be towed to the nearest jetty for unloading the crude and its off to repair yard or scrap?.

[ruzbehxyz]

Such type of maritime accidents are getting common nowadays. A very strange one was the grounding off Maldives and the Master faces charges.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Such type of maritime accidents are getting common nowadays. .

Not really I think. Overall Maritime accidents are on the decline and have been for decades! It’s just that we saw a few accidents recently that made headlines in the press.

Some interesting articles here on Safety and shipping and some statistics: Note this is up to 2018, I havent seen the 2019 report yet.

Large shipping losses are now at their lowest level this century having declined by over 50% year on year, according to Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE’s (AGCS)
Safety & Shipping Review 2019
. The annual study analyzes reported shipping losses over 100 gross tons (GT).

In 2018,
46 total losses of vessels
were reported around the shipping world, down from 98 12 months earlier, driven by a significant decline in activity in the global loss hotspot, South East Asia, and weather-related losses (10) halving after quieter hurricane and typhoon seasons.

While this plummet in total losses is encouraging, the number of reported shipping incidents overall (2,698 in 2018) shows little decline – less than 1% year-on-year. Machinery damage is the major cause, accounting for more than a third of the 26,000+ incidents over the past decade – twice as many as the next highest cause, collision. Machinery damage is one of the most expensive causes of marine insurance claims, accounting for US $1bn+ in five years [1].

For the full report: https://www.agcs.allianz.com/news-an...view-2019.html

2019 is similar:



What I find baffling these days, machinery damage remains the number one cause for large scale accidents. I would have thought that is the one cause that is relatively easy to fix. Maybe the marine industry could take some lessons from the aviation industry?

Jeroen

[SideView]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Such type of maritime accidents are getting common nowadays. A very strange one was the grounding off Maldives and the Master faces charges.

True even i had a doubt this was some planned insurance fraud.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Not really I think. Overall Maritime accidents are on the decline and have been for decades! It’s just that we saw a few accidents recently that made headlines
Jeroen

I would like to disagree.

90% of world's goods are carried by sea. If you look at anything in your house, most of it or part of it would have been transported by sea at some point of time. Of something is Made in India then the tools or associated parts may have been shipped from abroad.

Accidents in maritime industry is a relative term and please do not go blindly by statistics given on the net. Most of it is not accurate because of various reasons.

A merchant ship can be made in South Korea, with a Panama Flag, Classed under DNV.GL, plying in US, owned by Japanese with P.O office in Bermuda, chartered by a European, insured by a UK company, manned from Hong Kong with Technical management in Singapore and run by Indians. That's how it is.

Even the smallest of errors, can lead to small accidents and loss of reputation for a company. An accident in US and a similar accident in a third world country can have different consequences.

What I find baffling these days, machinery damage remains the number one cause for large scale accidents. I would have thought that is the one cause that is relatively easy to fix. Maybe the marine industry could take some lessons from the aviation industry?

Correction. Major cause of acccidents at sea is due to human error and not machinery. And when it comes to machinery, a ship's engine and associated machinery is not easy to fix, repair or replace.
On a ship everything is time bound and one mistake or error can lead to an accident or a potential "off hire" which cause thousands of dollars loss to the ship owner and loss of reputation.

Shipping is one of the toughest professions in the world and regarded as one of the most dangerous after minning. Sadly every year we loose hundreds of seafarers while some get permanently disabled.

When it comes to the airline industry, then please note that it is totally different. Although both industries have zero error requirements, a ship is far more difficult to run. A Pilot / Captain in command of a commercial aircraft and a Master / Captain in command of a merchant ship, is totally different and responsibilities varied.

Don't want to write more as there's a lot. I am currently in this profession for 20 years and hence wanted to add my views.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

I would like to disagree.
Accidents in maritime industry is a relative term and please do not go blindly go by statistics given on the net. Most of it is not accurate because of various reasons.

Well, this is a pretty reliable source as it is one of the largest marine underwriters!

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Correction. Major cause of acccidents at sea is due to human error and not machinery. And when it comes to machinery, a ship's engine and associated machinery is not easy to fix, repair or replace.

You probably make a good point and that was my initial thought as well. Machinery breaking down is very often down to human error, incompetence, inaptitude etc. Although I don’t have any data, but I would think that machinery break down on ships due to poor design is probably less of a factor. Tends to come down to maintenance, repair and correct use.

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

When it comes to the airline industry, then please note that it totally different. Although both industries have zero error requirements, a ship is far more difficult to run. A Pilot / Captain in command of a commercial aircraft and a Master / Captain in command of a merchant ship, is totally different and responsibilities varied.

It is not about comparing industries. It is looking at a different industries and see what you can learn. I don’t necessarily agree commanding a ship is more difficult than commanding an aircraft. It is very different, all though I see a lot of similarities as well.

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

Don't want to write more as there's a lot. I am currently in this profession for 20 years and hence wanted to add my views.

Why not write more. I would love to hear your thoughts. I am a former merchant navy Chief Engineer myself (unlimited ticket diesel, steam, electric, nuclear) and I have some insights into aviation too; I have a pilot license too. (very small license, but still!)

[Gansan]

Is it an Indian vessel? Who are the owners?

[sparky@home]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

What I find baffling these days, machinery damage remains the number one cause for large scale accidents. I would have thought that is the one cause that is relatively easy to fix. Maybe the marine industry could take some lessons from the aviation industry?

Jeroen

IMHO one of the main reasons is cost cutting while vessel is in dry dock, the owners want the ship crew to be responsible for maintenance, and in dry dock most of the times all they do is paint the hull and all that stuff which is top urgent. Its a whole pandora's box.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by sparky@home

IMHO one of the main reasons is cost cutting while vessel is in dry dock, the owners want the ship crew to be responsible for maintenance, and in dry dock most of the times all they do is paint the hull and all that stuff which is top urgent. Its a whole pandora's box.

In my days most of the work during dry docking tended to be in the Engine room.

But I think there is more to it. Ships are still surveyed, in order to comply with rules, regulations, laws, insurance etc. So how come we still see so much problems with machinery (and likely the crew handling it).

Does anybody here ever look through the marine accident investigation reports? These days I am much more familiar with aviation accident reports. There is lots of information available about the nature of aviation accidents, the root causes, contributing factors, lesson learned, recommendation etc. What do we have in place for merchant ships these days?

Jeroen

[sparky@home]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

In my days most of the work during dry docking tended to be in the Engine room.

But I think there is more to it. Ships are still surveyed, in order to comply with rules, regulations, laws, insurance etc. So how come we still see so much problems with machinery (and likely the crew handling it).

Does anybody here ever look through the marine accident investigation reports? These days I am much more familiar with aviation accident reports. There is lots of information available about the nature of aviation accidents, the root causes, contributing factors, lesson learned, recommendation etc. What do we have in place for merchant ships these days?

Jeroen

You can get to check out marine accident reports in this link .
https://maritimeaccident.org/

[nairrk]

From the records the ship is built in 2000 and registered in Panama. So a ship under 20 years is still considered as seaworthy.

It seems from the pictures fire and smokes are coming out of the bridge area which means the fire started in the engine room and later spread across to other parts

According to news agency IANS, the vessel has been chartered by Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and she destined to Paradip port (Odisha).

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

I would like to disagree.Accidents in maritime industry is a relative term and please do not go blindly by statistics given on the net. Most of it is not accurate because of various reasons.

One unwritten norm on Team BHP is that if you disagree strongly then share hard data which we can all read and learn from. Given that we are a bunch of hard nuts opinions don't usually count much. Jeroen has quoted data from Lloyds I think. Disagree if you wish but substantiate.

90% of world's goods are carried by sea. If you look at anything in your house, most of it or part of it would have been transported by sea at some point of time. Of something is Made in India then the tools or associated parts may have been shipped from abroad.

A merchant ship can be made in South Korea, with a Panama Flag, Classed under DNV.GL, plying in US, owned by Japanese with P.O office in Bermuda, chartered by a European, insured by a UK company, manned from Hong Kong with Technical management in Singapore and run by Indians. That's how it is.

Most of us know that. Even folks like me who are not from shipping know this. So how does that counter the point that shipping is getting safer?

Don't want to write more as there's a lot. I am currently in this profession for 20 years and hence wanted to add my views.

Good you are from the profession. Share your knowledge. So we can all learn.

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

When it comes to the airline industry, then please note that it is totally different. Although both industries have zero error requirements, a ship is far more difficult to run. A Pilot / Captain in command of a commercial aircraft and a Master / Captain in command of a merchant ship, is totally different and responsibilities varied.

While professions are not comparable, as a member of the aviation industry and the son of a naval officer,I would say being a ship captain is a tougher & more demanding job than being an aircraft's captain. A Captain at sea has to be not only a very competent professional but also a leader and a father of his men and do so for weeks or months. A captain of an airliner has a very intense job, has high demands on no-failure skills, where when things go wrong the drama unfolds in seconds and milliseconds but it is for a few hours or several hours at a time not weeks or months.

The practice of having flags of convenience encourage inadequate maintenance and safety standards at the cost of the crew. The aviation industry's standardization on maintenance and banning of flights from countries with weak standards helps keep the variation in state of repair of airliners within a much narrower band, I believe, than in cargo ships.

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thanks for sharing! Thread moved to the Commercial Vehicle forum.

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by Gansan

Is it an Indian vessel? Who are the owners?

As per Wiki, ship is owned by Porto Emporios Shipping Inc, Piraeus, Greece and was built in Japan in 2000.

It is 20 year old and if average age of shipping vessels are considered, it still has plenty of life left and moreover generally fire is considered as serious hazard in shipping industry. Since it is VLCC, risk of severe ecological disaster is more. As per latest info, fire has reignited in the deckhouse and bridge area on the stern of the vessel. It is going to be long battle for the salvage team to bring things under control.