LNG-fuelled vessels promise a solution to many of the environmental challenges facing shipping over the next 30 years. To meet the needs to cut CO² emissions and maximize efficiency wherever possible, IPP Ingenieur Partner Pool developed STREAM, the new containership design for LNG-powered containerships. The concept, which has been assessed by GL and given a certificate of approval, is for a range of liner or feeder vessels from 3,000 TEU to 4,200 TEU for worldwide service.
The Bahamas flagged car carrier Baltic Ace sunk after a collision at sea off the coast of Zeeland. The accident occurred about 65 kilometers off the coast of Zeeland. The ship had a crew of 24 seafarers. Baltic Ace collided with the Cyprus flagged containership Corvus J. The condition of the crewmembers from the Baltic Ace is unclear although according to Coast Guard reports eleven people have been rescued from the Dutch Coastguard.
On 28 January 2009, the chief officer on board the UK registered container ship Ville de Mars fell almost 8 m when descending into a water ballast tank (the vessel’s forward ballast tank). The vessel was on passage in the Gulf of Oman. He was removed from the tank by the ship’s crew and died while being flown to a hospital ashore in Oman by a Royal Navy helicopter. The chief officer had been due to leave the vessel the following day in Jebel Ali, UAE. No postmortem was conducted.
During the morning of 18 January 2007, when on passage in the English Channel, the 4419 TEU container ship MSC Napoli encountered heavy seas, causing the ship to pitch heavily. The ship was making good a speed of 11 knots and the height of the waves was up to 9m. At about 1105, the vessel suffered a catastrophic failure of her hull in way of her engine room. The master quickly assessed the seriousness of the situation and decided to abandon ship. Following the broadcast of a distress call at 1125, the 26 crew abandoned the vessel in an enclosed lifeboat. They were later recovered by two Royal Navy helicopters. There were no injuries.
A few days ago a Filipino seafarer who was onboard the well known MSC Flaminia fire accident died in hospital in Portugal from severe burns that he suffered in a fire. MSC Flaminia is a German container ship that caught fire on 14 July 2012 forcing the crew to abandon ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship remained at sea after the fire for over a month and among others at a specific time EU countries were refusing to offer shelter to the vessel most probably due to hazardous materials stored within its containers. Taking the opportunity a full timeline of the MSC Flaminia fire has been compiled mainly from information from the Maritime Bulletin.
Due to last week heavy storm that took place in Spain the 118 meter long containtership Celia and the 113 meter cargo ship BSLE Sunrise went aground near Valencia, Spain. Both vessels had been at anchor when a strong storm struck causing the anchors to drag until both ships were on the beach.
At 0906 central daylight time (CDT) on Saturday, October 29, 2011, the 799-foot Greek-flag chemical tanker Elka Apollon, outbound in the Houston ship channel, collided with the 777-foot inbound Panamanian-flag container vessel MSC Nederland at a point in the channel referred to as Five Mile, which is close to the channel’s intersection with the Bayport ship channel.
The design has been optimized for an operating profile along the Far East to Europe trade route involving nine speed and draught combinations. The installed propulsive power could be reduced by about 16 per cent compared to the initial hullform optimized for one draft & speed condition. The first of the new 13,800 TEU ships is under construction at Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and will be delivered next year.
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Officer of the Watch 