[Warwithwheels]

Can somebody throw some light about the plight of the stranded ship in the coast of TN?



Image Credits

[navin]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

Can somebody throw some light about the plight of the stranded ship in the coast of TN?

Sir the ship is the Pratibha Cauvery. I believe the company that owns the ship (Pratibha Shipping) is managed by a relative of Maharashtra politican Sharad Pawar (Prathiba is his wife's name) called Sunil Pawar.

The Ship's crew (not hull) has been insured by Shipowners Mutual Protection & Indemnity Association (Luxemborg) represented in India by J. B. Boda. The hull has been insured by New India Assurance Company Ltd.

The ship has a tonnage of "26,000 DWT". SMIT Salvage should have started salvage operations today. I believe the operation will cost $8 million. Sea worthiness of the vessel will be determined post salvage.

More information can be found here
http://officerofthewatch.com/2012/11...ue-to-cyclone/
http://www.aboutcrew.com/news/casual...atibha-cauvery

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by navin

Sir the ship is the Pratibha Cauvery.

Thanks for the technical insights Navin.

What surprises me is the attitude of the ship owner in the recovery efforts. Even a road transport fleet operator would show some kinda responsibility and urgency in recovering his fleet vehicles involved in a accident/breakdown.

But this shipping company doesn't seem to bother about the ship at all. It is only the local fishermen and other associations who extend their support.

Looks like there is another ship from the same company stranded in the nearby waters in a similar fashion.

Does this expose the lack of a proper regulatory mechanism to regulate the trade or is it quite common in the industry?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Even as a one-time hobby saillor, I know that the rule is to stay with the boat unless it is actually sinking or breaking up. People abandoned what was, apparently, a fairly stable ship. It's easy to talk when one wasn't there, but it seems that the Coastguard was very actively advising them not to do this. Lives were lost.

The bravery and skill of the fishermen is really great. Launching and landing a boat off a beach into any kind of swell is something that takes a lot of skill and quite some strength. To them, of course, it is an every-day task, but in the wind that was blowing at the time, I am sure even they would only do it only in a life-or-death situation. I'm full of admiration.

As we were travelling that way anyway, we joined the thousands who have visited the spot to take a look. The ship is not secured in any way. Whilst, when I saw it, it looked to me to be pretty firmly aground, I since read that it is still drifting. Anyway, I am no judge of waterlines on commercial shipping.

It is under "arrest" of the port authorities pending legal action concerning the death[s]. On the other hand, Chennai Port does not want the ship taking up a berth, and other ports do not either.

Looks like there is another ship from the same company stranded in the nearby waters in a similar fashion.

Economically stranded, I think.

[tharian]

Some pictures of the salvage vessel and operations taking place this morning off Prathiba Cauvery of the Madras coast.

[vikram_d]

From the Facebook India page.

Pratibha Cauvery - Another disaster waiting to happen?

The ship is being tried to be tugged out into the sea when it is buried upto 4 meters in sand, with 357 tonnes of Oil, close to a city shore and not even on a high tide. Why?

Without mandatory requirements, how the vessel was allowed to carry tons of crude oil for a government-run oil company and allowed to be at the outer anchorage of the port for 40 days? Travel logs reveal it was arrested at Mangalore port in June 2012 and detained at Visakhapatnam in July for reasons of non-maintenance and safety.

The vessel is said to be owned by Mumbai-based Pratibha Shipping Ltd. Captain Carl Fernades who was grilled by Chennai Police on Friday, is reported to have told them that the company belongs to the family of Union agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar. Pratibha is the name of Pawar's wife

The Pawar family owns a few other ships, also under the Indian flag, and is closely associated with certain European ship-owning and management companies. Of its fleet of nine cargo ships, two are stranded in Chennai (the other being Pratibha Varna) and another in China.

The crew of the ship were made to live in worst conditions with no food and not even fresh water, about 2 kms off Chennai coast. Though the ship carries 357 tonnes of heavy oil, there was no diesel to power its generators and no water. Repeated pleas to the company by crew were ignored. So looks like the crew took a chance to abandon the vessel using the storm as a reason.

Now the ship with all its oil and unsafe record, degraded further by running aground near a highly populated area is posing a severe environmental risk. And the question remains why they are trying to move the ship now without first pumping out the 357 tonnes of oil. To save money? Or to claim insurance by wrecking it? Who's responsible if something goes wrong and the oil leaks?

Source: https://www.facebook.com/india.cd

[headers]

CHENNAI HARBOUR WANTED PARKING FEES FOR THE TUG WHICH IS WHY SUCH AN OPERATION IS BEING ATTEMPTED.




This is how close it is to the shore

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Even as a one-time hobby saillor, I know that the rule is to stay with the boat unless it is actually sinking or breaking up. People abandoned what was, apparently, a fairly stable ship. It's easy to talk when one wasn't there, but it seems that the Coastguard was very actively advising them not to do this. Lives were lost.

That's very sad. Maybe they were desperate to get out of the vessel to get their basic necessities which was reportedly lacking.

The rescue operations carried out by the fishermen are commendable.

Economically stranded, I think.

Oh! King-fish-er of the seas perhaps!

Originally Posted by tharian

Some pictures of the salvage vessel and operations taking place this morning off Prathiba Cauvery of the Madras coast.

Thanks for the live pictures. Sad that such a magnificent ship has to go thru' such an ordeal.

Originally Posted by vikram_d

...Pratibha Cauvery - Another disaster waiting to happen?

Exactly! Looks like the towing cable snapped just now

Just can't imagine how unprepared and untrained our rescue forces are.

As the report has rightly pointed out, the oil stored in the tanker could reportedly create an oil spill of 30 sq. km.

The fate of the second largest beach in the world is in the hands of the rescue team and authorities concerned. Hope everything turns out well!

[navin]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

What surprises me is the attitude of the ship owner in the recovery efforts.

Looks like there is another ship from the same company stranded in the nearby waters in a similar fashion.

Does this expose the lack of a proper regulatory mechanism to regulate the trade or is it quite common in the industry?

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

People abandoned what was, apparently, a fairly stable ship...Lives were lost.

It is under "arrest" of the port authorities pending legal action concerning the death[s].

Originally Posted by vikram_d

Without mandatory requirements, how the vessel was allowed to carry tons of crude oil for a government-run oil company and allowed to be at the outer anchorage of the port for 40 days?

The Pawar family owns a few other ships, also under the Indian flag, and is closely associated with certain European ship-owning and management companies. Of its fleet of nine cargo ships, two are stranded in Chennai (the other being Pratibha Varna) and another in China.

To save money? Or to claim insurance by wrecking it? Who's responsible if something goes wrong and the oil leaks?

For many years there was another ship owned by another Indian company that had been abandoned off the shores of Goa. It was only removed early this year (before the monsson season of 2012). That ship was not even insured when it ran aground.

Yes, why unsafe, uninsured and poorly managed ships are allow to ply Indian waters needs to be examined but do you really expect such ship owners (often politically connected) to be affected by any laws.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by tharian

Some pictures of the salvage vessel and operations taking place this morning off Prathiba Cauvery of the Madras coast.

Picture 1 puts my heart in my mouth . See the line is side-on to the tug? Maybe it's only a messenger line or something. Anyway, obviously the worst didn't happen.

Thanks for the photos. Very interesting to see.

Just can't imagine how unprepared and untrained our rescue forces are.

Just passing on what I've seen in the local papers... Apparently the coastguard did not have suitable rescue boats, and their helicopters are not good for night flying or bad-weather operation. All hearsay, and media are notoriously bad at reporting specialist or technical subjects ...like computers or seafaring!

I think India's Mountain rescue services are very much respected?

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Picture 1 puts my heart in my mouth ..See the line is side-on to the tug?

To a lay person like me, it looks like a Nano trying to pull out a Fortuner trapped in a quick sand.

Just passing on what I've seen in the local papers... Apparently the coastguard did not have suitable rescue boats, and their helicopters are not good for night flying or bad-weather operation. All hearsay, and media are notoriously bad at reporting specialist or technical subjects ...like computers or seafaring!

I think India's Mountain rescue services are very much respected?

You are absolutely right in your observation about our media. Adding to that, the camera of a particular channel was reportedly confiscated by the authorities. That should have got them all the more worked up!

Well, about our rescue services, actions speak louder than words. Will believe it, when the ship leaves the shore as a single piece!

[download2live]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

To a lay person like me, it looks like a Nano trying to pull out a Fortuner trapped in a quick sand.

Tug boats usually are small but pack in surprisingly huge amount of power.
Though I doubt that a single tug boat can pull out a giant which about 3 meters deep in sand.
Our in-house maritime expert Captain Nanduchitnis might be able to shed more light.

[Thad E Ginathom]

You are absolutely right in your observation about our media.

All media! Try the BBC on computing, or listen to reports of "a force five gale" whatever.

(There is a wonderful BBC clip where an interviewer is expecting a well known PC journalist. A cab driver gets ushered in, by mistake. The interviewer doesn't you know the difference. It's live. You see the guy's eyes as his brain goes I'm on TV and they think I'm a computer expert! He's as cool as he can be and carries it off as well as possible. Magic!)

Tug boats usually are small but pack in surprisingly huge amount of power.

They are a big hefty floating engine and a big hefty floating winch. Yes, I said winch, not wench.

They don't just use the hefty engine, they do stuff like putting down an anchor and hawling themselves (and the tow) up to it with the big heft winch.

I've never sailed anything bigger than 44-foot --- my seagoing fantasy would be to be the master of an ocean-going salvage tug. Those guys are the gods of seamanship. They also get to sit around a lot whilst there is no work for them to actually do.

[Warwithwheels]

UPDATE: Second try also fails. Will attempt for the third time around 3 pm this afternoon.

The salvage team has planned to deploy sand blowers to unearth the bottom of the ship if the third and fourth attempts also go bad.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

All
They are a big hefty floating engine and a big hefty floating winch. Yes, I said winch, not wench.

They don't just use the hefty engine, they do stuff like putting down an anchor and hawling themselves (and the tow) up to it with the big heft winch.

I've never sailed anything bigger than 44-foot --- my seagoing fantasy would be to be the master of an ocean-going salvage tug. Those guys are the gods of seamanship. They also get to sit around a lot whilst there is no work for them to actually do.

My formal training is as a marine Engineer at the Dutch naval college in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. I spent the first 8-9 years of my career as an engineer in the merchant navy.

Most of those years on ocean going tug and anchor handling tugs. Last years as chief engineer. I used to work for the mentioned Smit Salvage and have been involved in a few salvages. (admittedly many years ago.)

Yes, these tugs are relatively small, usually under 65-75 meter. But they pack a lot of horse power. Largest one under my command was 22.000 HorsePower. Yes they have very big, powerful winches. But those are for towing or for lifting anchors from oil rig of the sea floor.

I'm not familiar with the technique of setting an anchor and then hauling yourself and the tow. It wouldn't work. When you try to get a ship of the shore like this one, you would throw the tug into the tow line and aggressively sheer to starboard and port to break her out. And if that wouldn't work you would try and deploy different methods of breaking the suction of the sand on the stranded vessel. i.e. dredging a channel, lifting the cargo and fuel off etc.

Depending on the sort of salvage contract you have, you might not want to succeed immediately. The longer it takes, the more effort it takes the more favorable it might be for the tug owners. If it's a fixed price, then it's very different of course.

Jeroen