[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by KL01toKA03

I wonder why demolition using a controlled explosion wasn't considered.

Demolish what? The ship? Or the canal bank?

On another note,

Read that the ships are manned by the Suez canal pilots when they pass through the canal and not by the ships captain. Yeah, of course not completely, but assisted. In that case, would the shipping company or the captain of the ship can be blamed (if it is indeed a human error) or liable for the losses incurred.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Read that the ships are manned by the Suez canal pilots when they pass through the canal and not by the ships captain. Yeah, of course not completely, but assisted. In that case, would the shipping company or the captain of the ship can be blamed (if it is indeed a human error) or liable for the losses incurred.

The captain is still onboard and is also in command. The pilot is an advisor to the captain, but the captain remains command responsible.

Sometimes it can be tricky as pilots are supposed to be more familiar with the local situation, e.g, currents, sand banks etc. Also, many captain leave the actual manoeuvring of the vessel to the pilot. The pilot is talking to the tugboats, linesmen on the quayside, often in local language. And pilots very often are simply better at manoeuvring in close quarters, because that is all they do, all day.

Under many, local maritime laws, the pilot actually assume the responsibility of navigating as it is called, but even then the captain remain overall command responsible. Basically, that allows the pilot to become responsible for his/her own actions, rather then the captain.

But still the captain remains responsible. At the end of the day in case of a mishap it will be a case whether the pilot screwed up and was it reasonable for the captain to step in and take over. Don’t know about Egypt, but for instance in the USA it is very clear what the pilot can be held accountable for.

https://law.jrank.org/pages/9210/Pilot.html

Jeroen

[mnram]

Finally!! The 1300 foot ship has successfully re-floated and started to move to clear the path of the Suez Canal. When the traffic will be resumed is yet to be seen!

It might take weeks to clear the held up traffic

[SKC-auto]

I see the vessel moving in the vesselfinder.com, finally the crisis has come to an end.

[TrackDay]

The picture that brought joy to the World on a Monday !
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56567985

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le-LSQbPXtY

Refloated video

Seems like the crisis is almost over and most likely traffic will resume and be back to normal in the coming days. Wonder what would be the expression on the face of the guys who have taken the longer route right now ! Anyways the ripple effects of this situation is yet to be still seen. Rise in shipping prices, congestion at the ports due to influx of all pending ships coming in at once etc. Also it remains to be seen what would be the lesson learnt from this situation. Perhaps no big ships during 'Heavy wind', since they blamed the weather for all this.


The excavator guy who did that job will have the story of a lifetime to tell when he is in the Cafe or Hookah bar next time. Imagine his great grandkids boasting of how their Great Grandfather saved the day

Peter Berdowski, CEO Boskalis: “Shortly following the grounding of the Ever Given we were requested through SMIT Salvage to provide assistance with the salvage operation. I am excited to announce that our team of experts, working in close collaboration with the Suez Canal Authority, successfully refloated the Ever Given on 29 March at 15:05 hrs local time, thereby making free passage through the Suez Canal possible again. I’m extremely proud of the outstanding job done by the team on site as well as the many SMIT Salvage and Boskalis colleagues back home to complete this challenging operation under the watchful eye of the world. The time pressure to complete this operation was evident and unprecedented and the result is a true display of our unique capabilities as a dredging and marine services provider.”

https://www.streetinsider.com/Globe+.../18188383.html

Will miss the memes that were generated during the period & here is a last one. How Dominic Toretto would have Handled the situation !

[sparky@home]

Now that the MV Ever Given incident has blown over, I was reminded of an incident that happened during my shipping days, while transiting the Suez Canal. It was way back in 1982.

I was on a small general cargo ship (around 10000 MT/DWT), on our way to Black Sea, transiting the canal. We were in the 7th position in a convoy of around 30 ships.

It was around 1400 hrs and the 3rd Engineer was on watch in the engine room. He decided to take an additional Generator on load, the task by itself was a routine affair, but on that fateful day, it tripped, and the Main Engine shut down. And our ship just turned around and was facing south before anyone could do anything, of course we dropped anchor. Whilst swinging around the ship managed to avoid hitting a finger jetty, and a dredger which was anchored and dredging. This swinging around created a panic, and all the vessels behind us, 23 of them, had to drop anchor. There was so much of radio traffic on the VHF, mostly Arabic, and I am sure they must have been cursing us in all possible ways. After quite some time a tug came and assisted us in getting tied up to the embankment, after which the other vessels lifted anchor and continued their voyage.

After the south bound convoy crossed us, we had to shift anchor to the bitter lake for the night, next day morning a Lloyds surveyor came on board for inspection, and after he was satisfied, we were allowed to continue our voyage in the evening after that day’s transit was finished, under a tug escort.

What I remember most of the incident was the 2nd Mates remark in the Bridge log book on the state of the weather that day, “Calm Canal”, which was so ironical.

Those days, the incident was not such an affair, and was forgotten fast, maybe a note in some log book, unlike what could happen now.

[ariesonu]

Originally Posted by sparky@home

What I remember most of the incident was the 2nd Mates remark in the Bridge log book on the state of the weather that day, “Calm Canal”, which was so ironical.

I am presuming that you are a marine engineer hence the above statement. Can you just tell me what is WRONG in above entry made by 2nd Mate, because you yourself have mentioned that "STATE OF WEATHER" was recorded in Logbook.
Just because engines failed, was 2nd Mate required to write something else, if so, do enlighten me.

Regards from a Sailing Master Mariner

[sparky@home]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

I am presuming that you are a marine engineer hence the above statement. Can you just tell me what is WRONG in above entry made by 2nd Mate, because you yourself have mentioned that "STATE OF WEATHER" was recorded in Logbook.
Just because engines failed, was 2nd Mate required to write something else, if so, do enlighten me.

Regards from a Sailing Master Mariner

The irony was the statement, since it was anything but calm that day, just saying, i am not saying anything on his recorded statement.

[ariesonu]

The veracity of the below statement of facts is not known but is being discussed a lot in maritime legal circles. I am NOT AT ALL surprised by this.

From my own experience, I fully agree with the high handedness of Pilots at Suez when denied the GIFTS. Some could be so choosy that once I didn't have Benson & Hedges cigarettes but Egyptian Pilot insisted on them only.
In another instance I had arab crew & the pilot started talking to them in Arabic, when I protested that as the Master of vessel I am unable to understand the instructions being given by him, he behaved as if I was not even present on the bridge. I quietly removed the helmsman & took over the manual steering and he had to revert to English.

I never have had such situation with Panama Canal Pilots & in fact once an Oriental pilot brought chocolates for crew, as the crossing was on Christmas eve.
BTW, if anyone is interested to watch live footage of ships crossing at PANAMA CANAL, they can visit: https://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

ever given
şükela: tümü | bugün
15 entry daha
• bu kaza, gemiye suez'de katılan kılavuz kaptanın sigara talebinin gemi tarafından reddedilmesi üzerine olmuş gerçekten, şaka gibi... kılavuz, emir-komutayi gemi kaptanına bırakmış, sadece gözlemci olarak burda duracağım demiş. gemi kaptanı vts üzerinden durumu rapor edeceğim diyince birbirlerine girmişler, o esnada gemi karaya oturmuş. 400m. lik, üzerinde milyar dolarlık yük bulunan gemi gerçekten bu şekilde kazaya sürüklenmiş...

Statement of Ever Given Master:
Please note the below incident which occurred during vessel’s suez canal transit (southbound) on 11 mar’21.
Vessel picked up the first pilot at 0424hrs before canal entry and entered the suez canal (port said side) at 0530hrs.
Before disembarking, the pilot requested for ciggarettes which was politely declined by master stating the zero corruption policy implemented on board as per charterers. The pilot disembarked thereafter.
First pilot change (at canal entry) was from 0526hrs to 0534hrs.
The 2nd pilot (capt. Khaled) who barded the vessel was on board till ısmalia.
The pilot was seeming a bit anxious during manoeuvring and on a few occasions tried to call out the helmsman for steering courses 0.2 degrees more than required. Master was present at all times and at no point did the helmsman execute a wrong helm order nor was any issue with vessel’s steering noted.
Before disembarking the pilot requested for ciggarettes which was politely declined by master stating the zero corruption policy implemented on board as per charterers.
Second pilot change at ısmalia from 1005hrs to 1013hrs.
The 3rd pilot (capt. Khalied mohammed hussain hassane – ıd no.1721201) after boarding the vessel exchanged a few words with the pilot who was disembarking (in their local language) as is the general practice in suez.
He refused to exchange pleasentaries with the master and immediately after the 2nd pilot disembarked he said -
Quote- “captain, please take the ship and navigate through the canal. I am only here to assist and advise you as per suez canal rules.” -unquote
When questioned regarding what he meant by the same and if he will be giving helm orders and courses to steer, he said that master was fully responsible for the same and navigating through the canal. The pilots job was only to observe and advise as required.
Please note that while this exchange was happening, the vessel was still underway in the convoy, passing bends and turns in the canal for which the helm orders were being given by master.
In the next 15-20 mins whilst manoeuvring through the canal, the pilot was politely, sternly and diplomatically requested to co-operate however he kept saying that the master is supposed to handle the vessel. Additionally he said that the last pilot has handed over to him regarding issue with vessel’s steering, hence he will only observe.
He was assured by master that their was no issue with the vessel’s steering, something he could have observed in the 20 mins he had been on board; however he refused to co-operate.
At that moment my focus as master was the safety of the vessel and the safe navigation (without any assistance from the pilot), alongwith ensuring the bridge team does not get distracted and therefore could not indulge in any detailed argument with the pilot.
After about 20 mins of navigating through the canal (near ısmalia) in an area where there were continous alterations and no steady course, with the pilot not giving any helm orders, and trying to harass the master & vessel, the pilot was told that the matter will be reported to ısmalia port control.
As soon as the master picked up the vhf and called ısmalia port control on ch8, the pilot raised his volume high, started shouting, snatched the vhf from the master’s hand (which also resulted in advertently pushing the master) and threatened that if same was reported “ıt will not be good for the vessel”.
At that very moment, in his raised volume he called for fwd and aft stations and for both anchors to be lowered to water level, as he insisted on stopping the vessel and arresting vessel for faulty steering. He said vessel will be held at bitter lake until sea trials were carried out.
Fwd station was immediately manned however anchors were not lowered as ship was doing 9 knots speed.
29.03.2021 11:29 uzakyolvardiyazabiti

Regards.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by ariesonu

The veracity of the below statement of facts is not known but is being discussed a lot in maritime legal circles. I am NOT AT ALL surprised by this.

WOW

If this is indeed true, the ramifications will be felt across the maritime industry!

[AtheK]

So all this for two packs of cigarettes

On a lighter note, this was shared with me yesterday, fellow members can try this, it's pretty tough.

Try your hand at traversing one of the most highly trafficked nautical thoroughfares in the world.

https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/...nix-steership/

[Superleggera]

I have a silly question, not related to the block as such, i keep hearing that ships anchored after EverGiven was stranded. How does the anchor work - will the ship stop if we just drop a heavy object in the sea which is just a fraction of the total weight?

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by Superleggera

I have a silly question, not related to the block as such, i keep hearing that ships anchored after EverGiven was stranded. How does the anchor work - will the ship stop if we just drop a heavy object in the sea which is just a fraction of the total weight?

Here is an informative, short video, on how ship anchoring works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YvwXJGsbEg

[VKumar]

I have a naive question for the experts:

Do the navy vessels like frigates, destroyers, aircraft carriers etc also require the pilot to help them cross the canal or at ports? Or they simply don't allow even the pilots too, citing the security reasons?

Additionally, if the pilots are allowed, do they expect 'gifts' from navy vessels too?

[Sankar]

The feeling must be priceless to the shipping community. Must be similar to the relief one gets when that one piece of turd thats causing a constipation finally decides to move. That feeling is priceless.