Cargo ship El Faro lost in Bermuda Triangle
Discussion
33 persons onboard, seems they cruised right in to the middle of a large hurricane, more here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/h...
Given the storm was very well forecast, I wonder what has gone on here!
Given the storm was very well forecast, I wonder what has gone on here!
debris found according to gCaptain http://gcaptain.com/tote-maritime-us-cargo-ship-el...
Updates to that site suggest they've decided it's probably sunk at or near its last known location. Reports were that the ship had lost propulsion and took water on giving a list. But that it was under control. The report says they've spotted debris like life rings and an empty, battered life raft. No survivors yet.
I understand it was only around 224m long and weighing around 31,500 tonnes.With the waves close to 50 ft and containers on deck and with winds of over 130 mph it was never going to stand a chance, if something broke loose or the ship took on water. Power fails.....wind turns the ship and over it goes, sinks fast and is now 12,000 ft under the Atlantic. Tragic. What on earth were they doing setting sail with the sea forecasts looking dreadful.
Box boats full of 700 boxes and only going from JAX down to Puerto Rico should have been nowhere near there. It's a short, quick trip anyway.
Running really close down the FLA coast would have been much safer, not poughing straight into the teeth of the bleeding storm. 20/20 hindsight and all, but it's not sodding rocket science.
Would an economic elbow from management have shoved them in that shorter direction?
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/...
Running really close down the FLA coast would have been much safer, not poughing straight into the teeth of the bleeding storm. 20/20 hindsight and all, but it's not sodding rocket science.
Would an economic elbow from management have shoved them in that shorter direction?
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/...
Is a US flagged ship, with such a large number of American crew members unusual in that part of the world, I was under the impression that they mainly sailed under flags of convenience with crews from emerging economies? And is 40 years old not very old for a container ship these days (wiki quotes the average age of container ships in 2009 as 10.6 years, and the average age of those scrapped in 2009 was 27 years?
markmullen said:
Ayahuasca said:
Poor sods.
Don't container ships have those orange lifeboat things that launch on a slide from the stern?
They can have, this one had two open lifeboats which needed to be manually launched.Don't container ships have those orange lifeboat things that launch on a slide from the stern?
Poor sods.
US is still covered by the Jones act so plenty of US flagged & crewed ships round those parts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchant_Marine_Act_...
Magog said:
Is a US flagged ship, with such a large number of American crew members unusual in that part of the world, I was under the impression that they mainly sailed under flags of convenience with crews from emerging economies? And is 40 years old not very old for a container ship these days (wiki quotes the average age of container ships in 2009 as 10.6 years, and the average age of those scrapped in 2009 was 27 years?
No. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (known as the 'Jones Act') requires that all goods transported by water between US ports be carried on US-flagged ships, constructed in the US, owned by US citizens and mainly crewed by US citizens. As a US territory, Puerto Rico counts as a US port.A very controversial law in the States. Puerto Rico blames partly blames it for the economic woes of the island - the cost of imports from the US to Puerto Rico is double that of independent Caribbean islands, particularly as foreign ships cannot load/unload at Puerto Rico on the way to/from the mainland. The oil industry also wants to repeal it as it makes it three times more expensive to export refined products from the Gulf to the US east coast ports as to foreign ports.
Little incentive to scrap ships given the high cost of a new US built ship compared to Korean built competitors and the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Jones Act. Hence the high average age of Jones Act ships.
Incidentally it's not a container ship. It's a Roll-on/Roll-off with containers stacked above the vehicle deck. Unfortunately the large open vehicle deck makes it very vulnerable to capsizing if water enters it and sloshes around.
Just
A very controversial law in the States. Puerto Rico blames partly blames it for the economic woes of the island - the cost of imports from the US to Puerto Rico is double that of independent Caribbean islands, particularly as foreign ships cannot load/unload at Puerto Rico on the way to/from the mainland. The oil industry also wants to repeal it as it makes it three times more expensive to export refined products from the Gulf to the US east coast ports as to foreign ports.
Little incentive to scrap ships given the high cost of a new US built ship compared to Korean built competitors and the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Jones Act. Hence the high average age of Jones Act ships.
Incidentally it's not a container ship. It's a Roll-on/Roll-off with containers stacked above the vehicle deck. Unfortunately the large open vehicle deck makes it very vulnerable to capsizing if water enters it and sloshes around.She was a ConRo, popular on that trade. If you look at pictures of the ship, she had openings in the hull below main deck level, not a good design feature when your main engine has failed in heavy weather. By a twist of fate I saw this ship in Jacksonville a few weeks ago, the vessel intrigued me as she was was obviously elderly. Rest in peace lads.
ninja-lewis said:
Magog said:
Is a US flagged ship, with such a large number of American crew members unusual in that part of the world, I was under the impression that they mainly sailed under flags of convenience with crews from emerging economies? And is 40 years old not very old for a container ship these days (wiki quotes the average age of container ships in 2009 as 10.6 years, and the average age of those scrapped in 2009 was 27 years?
No. The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 (known as the 'Jones Act') requires that all goods transported by water between US ports be carried on US-flagged ships, constructed in the US, owned by US citizens and mainly crewed by US citizens. As a US territory, Puerto Rico counts as a US port.A very controversial law in the States. Puerto Rico blames partly blames it for the economic woes of the island - the cost of imports from the US to Puerto Rico is double that of independent Caribbean islands, particularly as foreign ships cannot load/unload at Puerto Rico on the way to/from the mainland. The oil industry also wants to repeal it as it makes it three times more expensive to export refined products from the Gulf to the US east coast ports as to foreign ports.
Little incentive to scrap ships given the high cost of a new US built ship compared to Korean built competitors and the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Jones Act. Hence the high average age of Jones Act ships.
Incidentally it's not a container ship. It's a Roll-on/Roll-off with containers stacked above the vehicle deck. Unfortunately the large open vehicle deck makes it very vulnerable to capsizing if water enters it and sloshes around.
Blast from the past.
NTSB review of SS El Faro loss.
After reading a lot of the NTSB air crash investigation reports I thought I sort of knew how it would be, but it is the most comprehensive accident report ever, from spending months getting the data, to reporting all that data.
And it is a lot of data, from the report to the VDR log. If you read it all you actually get a feeling for the whole thing, how it transpired and where the gaps or problems were.
NTSB report
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreport...
VDR "bridge voice"
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3237729-El...
If you read internet comments now of course you just see that the captain was an imbecile and just sent them to their deaths.
I would recommend anyone interested in why accidents happen to read the above. It shows the problems from company, to ship and then to the last hours and minutes.
It's actually a report where nobody comes off well, and I mean everyone.
NTSB review of SS El Faro loss.
After reading a lot of the NTSB air crash investigation reports I thought I sort of knew how it would be, but it is the most comprehensive accident report ever, from spending months getting the data, to reporting all that data.
And it is a lot of data, from the report to the VDR log. If you read it all you actually get a feeling for the whole thing, how it transpired and where the gaps or problems were.
NTSB report
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreport...
VDR "bridge voice"
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3237729-El...
If you read internet comments now of course you just see that the captain was an imbecile and just sent them to their deaths.
I would recommend anyone interested in why accidents happen to read the above. It shows the problems from company, to ship and then to the last hours and minutes.
It's actually a report where nobody comes off well, and I mean everyone.
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