Kennebec Captain

AIW

2012-02-05T12:17:00.000-05:00

AIW

Nothing else to report.

K.C.

Received: from MPD at Globe Wireless;
Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:31 UTC
Message-id: 924078338

Comments on the Crash of Air France 447

2011-12-10T16:06:00.001-05:00

The Airbus's vertical stabilizer recovered

I just read a couple of articles about the crash of Air France 447. My take, (as a mariner, I am not an aviator) is that the root cause of the crash was the failure to avoid bad weather.

The first article is from Popular Mechanics: Air France 447 Flight-Data Recorder Transcript - What Really Happened Aboard Air France 447 - Popular Mechanics

The factors which led to the crash were:

- The plane encountered bad weather
- An iced up pitot tubes caused a loss of aircraft speed data
-With the loss of airspeed data the computer disconnected the autopilot
- The controls switched modes from "normal law" to "alternate law
- The junior most pilot panicked and stalled the plane.
- The yoke system averaged the input from the pilots and co-pilots yoke but without providing information that one pilot was pulling full back, this made it impossible for the captain and other co-pilot to determine the cause of the plane's behavior.

Because of the unusual combination of factors above the crew flew a perfectly good, highly sophisticated plane with 228 passengers into the ocean.

The second article is from BoingBoing - the post isDisaster book club: What you need to read to understand the crash of Air France 447

This article points out that the crash is an example the type of incident described in the book Normal Accidents by Charles Perrow

I agree the accident could be viewed as a normal accident but my take is that the error made was the simple one of failing to avoid bad weather. The root cause can be found in the very first line from the synopsis in the Popular Mechanics article.

At 1h 36m, the flight enters the outer extremities of a tropical storm system. Unlike other planes' crews flying through the region, AF447's flight crew has not changed the route to avoid the worst of the storms.

So it begins. It ends at 2h 11m when the plane hits the sea surface.

Had the plane flown around the bad weather, the latent conditions and the weird, unexpected failure path never would have been revealed.

One other point, you can't avoid heavy weather if you don't have or don't pay attention to the forecast. Typically, shipboard the mates will simply rip what ever comes off the INMARSAT printer and, regardless of it's relevancy, post it without reading it. I don't allow that. On my ship I have a specific, written procedure that insures the correct weather forecast is read, understood and posted.

Knowing the weather forecast is not just a way to avoid disaster. It also should be part of routine on a well run ship as weather impacts almost all maritime operations.

K.C.

Avoid heavy weather - that's a principle I've posted about twice before: Parametric Rolling of a Car Carrier in a Head Sea

In that post I wrote: "

- avoid heavy weather. Hidden flaws, the so-called latent condition, ..... are more likely to reveal themselves when the ship is being tossed about in bad weather, just when you can least afford to cope with it.

In the second post Heavy weather encounter - The Satori. , I wrote:

It is not only the vessel that encounters heavy weather, it is the vessel, crew and cargo. Operating vessels, and their crews, near limits increases risks and chances of failure, - but the path of failure may not be the one expected.

I've posted about normal accidents a couple of times: Normal Accidents and here "Thinking Like a Mariner - Managing the unexpected."

BTW - not much posting in the near future. I should be home again in March gw&wp

Risk Assessment Video from Walport

2011-11-29T22:20:00.000-05:00

High and Heavy (Photo by K.C.)

Like most mariners I like to keep things as simple as possible. But today's ships are big, relatively complex and have lots of systems.

A big PCTC for example has 12 cargo decks. The cargo equipment includes hydraulic powered movable decks and ramps as well as a 150 ton capacity, computer controlled, hydraulic powered (with a separate cooling system) cargo elevator. Not to mention the engine room, the house, mooring systems and so on.

Crews on ships like this can not take a simple approach to complex tasks and expect to get the job done effectively and safely.

Risk assessment training and tools can help crews evaluate the risks involved in shipboard tasks.

The Walport video below is from Marine Cafe Blog - Risk assessment: the how and why

K.C.

Reducing Information overload in heavy Ship traffic

2011-11-21T20:38:00.001-05:00

ARPA display

Information overload is often a big problem for new third mates when they encounter heavy traffic. A typical difficult situation might involve two or three large ships, a few fishing boats and maybe a tug and tow all moving a different speeds

Finding a solution to traffic problems can be done by the bridge watch either entirely by visual means,entirely with electronic aids such as ARPA (radar) or along the spectrum between the two. When the ship is in zero visibility there is no visual information available the bridge watch must work entirely at the radar end of the radar/visual spectrum. In clear weather an experienced deck watch officer or pilots might maneuver in traffic without the use of radar at all.

Most commonly however in clear weather, in heavy traffic most bridge watch officers will find themselves relying mostly on visual information but using the radar/ARPA as an aid to verify or confirm what they see out the window.

Not so however for the new third mate.

From a gcaptain post Technology on Ships Can be Dangerous, Warns P&I Club

In another case cited by the club, the OOW decided to use the Automatic Radar Plotting Aid to track 99 different ships whilst transiting a congested anchorage and to overlay the radar image with Automatic Identification System data. With so much information being displayed, he failed to notice that one of the targets had both a minimal closest point of approach (CPA) and time to CPA and, ultimately, there was a collision.

This doesn't surprise me. When a new third mate attempts to solve a difficult traffic situation, most new watch officers do not trust solutions "by eye" but prefer instead the precision provided by radar/ARPA almost as if they were in zero visibility.

I've gone up to the bridge in traffic to find the mate switching from radar to radar each one with different mix of features trying to solve a problem that can be solved by a more experienced mate in just seconds by eye.

In aviation new pilots must first learn to fly a plane using visual flight rules and then later gaining an instrument rating.

The key to improving the ability of a new mate to deal with traffic is to increase his/her confidence in solutions found by eye with radar/ARPA confirmation. That sometimes means prying them away from the radar and demonstrating to them how traffic problems can be solved by looking out the window.

K.C.

Moneyball and Safety Management Systems

2011-11-18T19:18:00.001-05:00

Nick Swisher (from Wikipedia)

In this post I connect the book Moneyball with shipboard SMS (Safety Management Systems).

Moneyball, (stealing from Wikipedia) "is a book about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane The premise of the books is that the collected wisdom of baseball insiders is subjective and often flawed."

The conventional wisdom was, that to win ball games you need good players, and to get good players you used traditional scouts and you paid top dollar. But, in the case of the Oakland A's, with a low budget, they couldn't pay top dollar. The key, as my old port engineer used to say is, "ya gotta be smart". Being smart in this case meant measuring the right thing, player performance and scoring metrics, the right way. To measure is to know.

The link to SMS comes from a line in the book: "it's looking at the process rather then the outcomes". The key to winning games was, stick with the program, follow the process.

During the game, general manager Billy Beane, based on what he knew from objective measures, (sabermetrics), focused on the process. For instance he wanted the player at bat to get on base. The surest, safest way to get on base is to get a walk. Players on the other hand, focused on the outcome, tended to swing at pitches they shouldn't, trying for the home run.(more here Moneyball at Slate .)

Shipboard, the process is the Safety Management System which are: "instructions and procedures to ensure safe operationof ships" - there's more to it of course but that's the heart of it.

Many mariners tend to be impatient with forms and paperwork. Often these "git er done" mariners consider SMS to have little relationship to the actual work but view it instead as a separate set of tasks that have to be done in addition to the job.

That's the wrong approach. A good SMS provides the process to arrive safely at the intended outcome.

This is from Capt.Ben Dinsmore at The Maritime Site, the post Increased Safety Measures and Performance Are Not Counter Productive.

"I believe there is a misconception in the maritime industry (or any industrial environment for that matter) when it comes to operational safety and performance. While most people agree that safety takes priority EVERYTIME, there are a few people who suggest an increased safety focus is often at the expense of performance (productivity, downtime, etc.). This is simply not the case."

That's right. Stick with the program, follow the process.

There is git er done and there is being safe but to do both you have to follow the process, ya gotta be smart.

K.C.

Piracy Update 13 Nov 2011

2011-11-13T19:19:00.001-05:00

Piracy tactics in the Gulf of Aden (GOA) and Horn of Africa (HOA) areas continue to evolve in response to increased effectiveness of shipboard defenses.

First, from MarineLink.com - The Changing Face of Piracy.

Of interest is the 12 skiffs each with 5 to 8 pirates. This article has the security team firing warning shots as opposed to the more dramatic reports I noted in my previous post: Will Somalia based pirates seize a ship with armed guards? - I still think that it is only a matter of time before pirates seize a ship with armed guards.

The first incident, on August 7, according to the report filed with the IMB’s Live Piracy Reporting Center3, saw 12 skiffs containing between five to eight pirates per skiff pursue and attack a bulk carrier approximately 20nm off the coast of Eritrea. As the skiffs approached to within 300m of the carrier, the Master ordered the armed security guards onboard to fire warning shots at the pirates’ skiffs. While this show of force saw the majority of pirate vessels break off their attack, two skiffs continued in their pursuit for some 30 minutes, returning fire at the armed guards until they, too, aborted their attack. If one believes the report – and there is no reason to doubt the legitimacy of reports filed with the IMB – then even underestimating the number of pirates to just 60 still leaves us with evidence of a worrying trend in pirate tactics.

Secondly, from Jay Bahadur's blog The Pirates of Puntland a post The beginning of the end?

Though no vessel employing armed security has yet been hijacked, I am not quite as sanguine as Pelton about the impending end of piracy off Somalia. The pirates have demonstrated an uncanny penchant for adapting to the measures that shipping companies and the naval forces have thrown at them, and the hitherto quiet start to Pirate Season 2011-12 could simply be an ebb before the next torrent. The next evolution of pirate tactics could very well be to come out guns blazing, armed guards be damned.

Finally, found at gcaptain, at the post U.S. Goes Public with Support for Hired Guns Against Piracy I thought this, from Andrew J. Shapiro, current United States Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs was very interesting - a shift of focus ashore:

We have also shifted our efforts to focus on the pirate leaders and organizers ashore. The focus ashore is essential, as piracy has evolved into an organized transnational criminal enterprise conducted for profit. It is increasingly clear that the arrest and prosecution of pirates captured at sea – often the low-level operatives involved in piracy – is insufficient, on its own, to meet our longer term counter-piracy goals. To maintain the momentum and space for action gained by naval operations, we have begun an effort to identify ways to disrupt these criminal networks and to determine the means to dismantle their financial networks.”

This strikes me as a big deal, don't know what it means exactly. I wonder if there is link between this new focus ashore and this, also from gcaptain:

Fighting Pirates On Solid Ground: Puntland Foils Hijacking Plans

Local officials and police of Gara’ad district of Mudug region in Somalia’s semi-autonomous state of Puntland, with the help of residents and elders, successfully removed pirates from the district and surrounding areas........“We captured many vehicles from the pirates as well as nine speed boats they were going to use to hijack other ships,” he explained.

We shall see....

K.C.

Will Somalia based pirates seize a ship with armed guards?

2011-11-02T20:48:00.000-04:00

Reported at Eagle Speak at the post Somali Pirates: End of October Brings out the Pirates.

WARNING: ATTACK A Vessel came under fire from an unknown number of skiffs in position 0810S 04606E at 2028Z on 31/10/11. Vessel was fired upon aft of bridge bulkhead, port and starboard side accommodation and portholes. On board security team returned fire and after 30 mins pirates left the vicinity of the vessel.

If this is correct pirates persisted for half an hour with an attack against a ship while an onboard armed security team returned fire. As far as I know this is a new development as in the past pirates have broken off attacks as soon as fired upon.

It is my view that it is only a matter of time before pirates seize a ship with armed guards. Ship masters should put BMP into place even with an embarked armed security team.

K.C.

Note: I have edited this post changing the source from OCEANUSLive.org Greek Tanker, Liquid Velvet, Hijacked in the Gulf of Aden to Eagle Speak

Vessel Encounters - The Play

2011-10-27T09:41:00.000-04:00

In comments of my post Vessel encounters drunks. Which rule applies? I said I was going to take another stab at making my point so here goes.

One of the books I have here at home is Mariner's Rules of the Road by William P. Crawford.

The book uses the analogy of a play to explain the rules of conduct between vessels. From the book, regarding the rules:

"The structure, though, can be reduced to this: a code of conduct and a code of signals. Vessels are given a script to follow when they meet; that is the code of conduct."

and:

The analogy of a script is apt. Performers acting out parts in a theater are guided by the playwright's specifications of who says what and when.Vessels approaching each other so as to involve risk of collision also require direction.

When a recreation vessel deliberately uses it's superior maneuverability to harass a larger vessel one actor is not following the script and the play is over.

Searching through the rules of the roads for the appropriate rule in this case would be like searching for Booth's line "Sic semper tyrannis" in the script for Our American Cousin. It's not there, the play was over when Booth shot Lincoln.

At sea, once Booth jumps onto the stage it's time for the pedantic types to turn to Rule 2 also called "The Rule of Good Seamanship and the General Prudential Rule.

Again from Crawford's book:

"If there is no script, or if what script exist won't work, then be ready to 'ad lib'."

K.C.

Would the stern swing to port?

2011-10-18T19:05:00.002-04:00

What?? I have been researching the so called "Gross tonnage rule" and from a Coast Guard Auxiliary site I read:

"In other words, if a boat is moving a 5 mph east and you were in the vacuum of space, it would never stop traveling east at 5 mph. However, we all know when we stop our engine on our boat, we slow down".

I wonder if I was in the vacuum of space and I backed the engine would the ship and the propeller begin to rotate in opposite directions? I mean assuming my engine is going to run?

Anyway speaking of ships in outer space the blog Strait of Magellan has safely circumnavigated the sun.

K.C.

Use of the GPS to regain the track-line to recover a MOB

2011-10-10T22:04:00.001-04:00

Typical Maine GPS

In the case of a crew (man) overboard many GPS units have a MOB (man overboard) button which will give the bearing and range back to the position of the ship when the button was pushed. The problem is the button may be overlooked entirely or it may not pushed in a timely manner. Even if it is pushed in a relatively timely manner it may be difficult to determine the distance between the MOB position on the GPS and the actual position of the crew in the water.

However, the crew member in the water has to be somewhere along the previous track. This track information is likely stored continuously and automatically on the GPS unit.

The GPS "PLOT", which shows the previous track, can be an invaluable aid in locating the ship's track while executing the man overboard turn.

It is important to know how to switch to the PLOT screen during the overboard emergency and it is also important to check to insure that it is set up properly to continuously record the ship's track before the emergency.

The ship's track may also be stored in other electronic equipment. For example "target trails" on the radar set at the appropriate time may also display the ship's previous track.

K.C.

Program to aid Seafarers subject to pirate attack.

2011-10-02T21:05:00.001-04:00

[Photo: ITF Seafarers' Trust: Rob Murray]

A program " to help seafarers who have been or may be subject to pirate attack." The Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP) has been established:

"to assist seafarers and their families with the humanitarian aspects of a traumatic incident caused by a piracy attack, armed robbery or being taken hostage"

The announcement from the International Transportation Workers Federation (ITF) is here.

K.C.

Photo of Shipyard Worker Cadiz Spain

2011-10-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

Cadiz shipyard worker

A shipyard worker standing on staging set up to work on the bow thruster.

K.C.

BTW I also managed to get a couple of photos of the anchor gear to tune up my post Ground Tackle for PCTC

Alaska Ranger Crew comments

2011-09-21T22:01:00.000-04:00

Alaska Ranger - USCG Photo

Below is a comment I received on my post The Alaska Ranger - shitty job, shitty boat :

I worked on The Ranger during 9-11. I initially was recruited and sent to Dutch to work on a different boat for the FCA. I witnessed a attack of a white man by three Samoans who beat this man so bad he was transported to the hospital with 3 broken bones all in his face. I careful exited the boat at dawn and returned to the bunks to request a ride back to Seattle. I did approach the Captain for the boat to report my witnessing the attack. I was told to be quiet and if I did not I would most likely not make it back to Land once we set sail. I was marooned in a bunk house for 12 days before a Man came to me offering a job on a new boat "The Ranger" This man turned out to be the Captain who was notified by the Main office in Seattle about my issue with the abusive nature of the Deck Hands and the boo sons on the first boat. He promised me no unfair treatment and that his boat is run by Whites and that I would be protected because of the color of my skins. I thought about it for a day and decided I came to Alaska to test myself, and to go home now would only result in me looking back questioning why I didn't try it. I spent 42 days aboard the ship, and it was by far the hardest most grueling test of my life. We were not notified of 9-11 until early Oct and the word track the Captain used was we were at war with Afghanistan and that they attack the pentagon. No talk of the Trade Towers or any thing else. The Coast Guard boarded our boat before heading back into Dutch and before hand the Captain order all of us to throw away Beer, Pot, and Fish that we were not suppose to have cause it was out of season. I look back now knowing that boat was the scariest ride and realizing now that I was so close to danger makes me wonder how many other boats out there too share the same issues..

John S

Thanks for the comment John S.

K.C.

Talk Like a Pirate Day -All be Well

2011-09-19T18:32:00.004-04:00

Talking like a pirate is not enough - why not go all the way.

As a professional mariner who regularly transits the Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa Talk Like a Pirate Day strikes me as ignorant and somewhat offensive. It's hard not to agree with Rick Spilman at Old Salt Blog "I was kidnapped by Somali pirates"

On the other hand seems like it doesn't hurt to lighten up a notch from time to time, Here is my AIW post run thru Translate-Pirate.com

In th' past, when I out t' sea an' very busy I would sometimes send me buxom beauty a short email. I would send her th' news, fer example me rpm, speed made good, sea conditions, ship motion an' th' mutiny level o' th' crew (low, moderate or high). I would also include th' letters AbW which means (to me)"All be well".

She used t' compl'n bout th' too short emails an' th' use o' "AbW" so I stopped. I tried t' add more interest'n items, fer example if I saw a fly'n fish, a turtle or if we had pork chops fer lunch.

So now, Commenter Will comes astern from cruise, home from school, an' off he goes t' th' George's Banks, fish'n on a boat out o' Portland, - noth'n heard fer six days. Me buxom beauty tells me she wishes fer a short email. Three letters:"AbW" .

- Silly, but harmless

K.C.

Scanner Review

2011-09-15T20:26:00.000-04:00

Brother MFC-7360N Multipurpose printer/scanner

.

When I'm running coast-wise, it's important to be able to get my various clerical chores done quickly so I can focus on more critical tasks. A key point is that it is more efficient and much quicker handling computer documents then paper ones. That means having a good scanner is important.

I've had several various scanners in my office over time but none as good as the Brother MFC printer/scanner. It prints fast, scans fast and the document feeder works much better then other models I've used. It also has software that is easy to use.

Imagine out the window I can see my green third mate is about to have a first encounter with the fishing fleet but I have a handful of paper to deal with. With this scanner I can shove the papers into the feeder, type in a file name, click the mouse button and then start a sprint out my office door. Before the ship closes a couple more ship lengths towards the nearest boat I'll be on the bridge in time to show the new mate fishing vessel avoidance techniques and my documents will be safely on the hard drive.

K.C.

BOATLIFT, An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience

2011-09-11T09:38:00.000-04:00

View from My Office - Gulf of Thailand

2011-09-10T08:55:00.000-04:00


Northbound - Gulf of Thailand

Singapore to Laem Chabang Thailand is about a two day run, heavy concentrations of fishing boats but traffic seems easy after transiting Malacca and Singapore Straits.

K.C.

Sources for Anti-piracy Information

2011-08-25T01:00:00.002-04:00

List of sources regarding requirements and procedures for transit of HRW (High Risk Waters) for U.S. Flagged Vessels

Publications / Advisories

Ship Security Plan (Approved by U.S. Coast Guard per MARSEC 104-6)

Maritime Security (MARSEC) Directive 104-6 (Rev 5) - Guidelines for U.S.Vessels Operating in High Risk Waters - U.S. Coast Guard - (Jan 07, 2011)

MARSEC Directive 104-6 Annex 1 - Additional Requirements for U.S. Vessels operating in High Risk Waters off the Horn of Africa (HOA) U.S. Coast Guard

BMP4 - Best Management Practices 4 for Protection against Somalia Based Piracy. - International Maritime Employers' Committee (16 Aug, 2011)

MSC/Circ.623/Rev3 - Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships (29 May, 2002)

Port Security Advisory (11-09) Supplementary Guidance on Anti-Piracy Defensive Measures - U.S. Coast Guard (1 Dec, 2009)

Port Security Advisory (3-09) Guidance on Self-Defense or Defense of others by U.S. Flagged Commercial Vessels Operating in High Risk Waters - U.S. Coast Guard (18 June, 2009)

Port Security Advisory (5-09) (Rev 1) Minimum Guidelines for Contracted Security Services in High Risk Waters - U.S. Coast Guard - (24 July, 2009)

MARAD Advisory 2010-09 - Risk to Vessel Transiting High Risk Waters - MARAD (5 Oct 2010).

Hull War, Strikes, Terrorism and Related Perils Listed Areas - JWLA/017 - Lloyd's (No info except a list of areas with coordinates) - (3 Mar 2011)

Organizations:

UKMTO (United Kingdom Merchant Trade Organization)

MSC HOA (Maritime Security Center Horn of Africa)

AIW

K.C.

AIW

2011-07-28T05:17:00.002-04:00

In the past, when I out to sea and very busy I would sometimes send my wife a short email. I would send her the news, for example my rpm, speed made good, sea conditions, ship motion and the mutiny level of the crew (low, moderate or high). I would also include the letters AIW which means (to me)
"All is well".

She used to complain about the too short emails and the use of "AIW" so I stopped. I tried to add more interesting items, for example if I saw a flying fish, a turtle or if we had pork chops for lunch.

So now, Commenter Will comes back from cruise, home from school, and off he goes to the George's Banks, fishing on a boat out of Portland, - nothing heard for six days. My wife tells me she wishes for a short email. Three letters:"AIW" .

As for me? Busy all day, pre-arrival docs, drill. F-6 head winds, turning for 18 kts, making 17.1. Chicken for lunch. AIW.

K.C.

Pilot Quote of the Day

2011-07-06T21:41:00.002-04:00

Pilot's comment after overhearing a question from the stern while making up tugs during unmooring operations:

"Whoever said there is no such thing as a stupid question never worked on a boat'

K.C.

Ship Generated Current - Ship's Fast Water

2011-06-24T08:30:00.001-04:00

I snagged the Dec/Jan 2011 issue of Professional Mariner out of the officer's lounge the other day. There is an interesting article by St. Lawrence River pilot Capt. Hugues Cauvier; "Effects of the ship-generated sideways current".

A ship moving sideways generates its own current. If the ship then moves ahead or astern, part of the ship remains in the current while part moves out of the current.

Jerry, a tug captain I sailed with sometime ago used to describe the currents and back eddies on the Inside Passage as "fast water" and "slow water", the context being having the tug in slow water and the tow in fast water was a bad thing.

A ship moving sideways generates its own "fast water" Moving then either ahead or astern is going to poke the bow or the stern into "slow water" This would cause the ship's heading to change. I have observed heading changes at slow speed which were not what I expected. This explanation seems reasonable. Next time I pull the ship out of its' own fast water I'll be watching.

K.C.

Maine Captain Maritime Blog - The Maritime Site

2011-05-15T21:57:00.000-04:00

Captain Ben Dinsmore is the founder and editor of The Maritime Site

I am happy to see another Maine Captain on the internet, I've added Capt. Ben Dinsmore's site The Maritime Site to "Working Mainers"

From "About":

The Maritime Site is a blog about the merchant marine, commercial shipping, the offshore oil and gas industry, nautical science, offshore wind turbines, tidal energy, and any other topic of interest related to the professional maritime industry..

Captain Ben Dinsmore is the founder and editor of The Maritime Site.

He currently sails as captain on a large oil exploration and research vessel (drillship) operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico with the same company he started with after graduating from college (12 years ago).

He is a 1999 graduate of Maine Maritime Academy, former lieutenant in the United Stated Navy Reserve (honorable discharge), a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage, and a USCG licensed Offshore Installation Manager (Unrestricted).

On his days off he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, golfing, and writing maritime related articles for this site.

He lives in Maine with his wife and two three children.

Looking forward to seeing more from a fellow captain and Mainer. We have to live up to our motto" "Dirigo"

K.C.

How to Avoid Bligh Reef - Keep a Navigation Plot

2011-05-15T21:26:00.001-04:00

Track of tanker Exxon Valdez to Bligh Reef

How to Avoid Bligh Reef.

From the Old Salt Blog - Two Constants – Bligh Reef and Human Error

The Coast Guard report on the grounding on the tug Pathfinder on Bligh Reef prompts the Old Salt Blog to point out that this is the same reef struck by the Exxon Valdez on March 24, 1989.

As pointed out, both incidents have in common Bligh Reef and human error. They also both share a lack of a proper navigation plot.

The chart (chart and times from Visualizing the Decision Space ) above is marked with key points (click to enlarge chart).

1. At 2324 Exxon Valdez drops off the pilot
2. At 2330 Hazelwood changes course to 200T
3. At 2339 Third mate Cousins plots a fix / Hazelwood changes course to 180 T (due south)
4.At 2353 Hazelwood leaves the bridge, orders third mate Cousins to change course when abeam Busby Light (2 minutes ahead)
5. At 2355 Third mate Cousins plots a fix abeam Busby but does not change course.
6.At 2400 (midnight) Lookout reports Bligh Reef on the Stbd bow - Cousins orders Right 10 rudder
7. At 0004 Cousins orders right 20 rudder
8. 0007 Cousins orders hard right
9. Exxon Valdez strikes Bligh Reef at 12 kts.(at 12 kts 1 mile = 5 minutes)

The key here is that giving verbal instructions to the mate does not suffice. It's critical that an intended track-line be laid down with anticipated turning times labeled on the chart. When a navigator plots positions, courses and times on a chart it moves navigational information from the officer's mind, to the paper chart where it can be more easily examined by all involved. Plotting navigation information is both a way to determine turning times, distances to hazards and so forth but also, importantly, it is also a communication tool.

When Capt Hazelwood ordered Cousins to "turn when abeam Busby Island" we don't know if Hazelwood had full situational awareness, specifically the ship's position and distance from hazards and we don't know how Cousins interpret his instructions. Placing the relevant plotting information on the chart would have closed understanding gaps between mate and captain.

Next, the case of the tug Pathfinder.

From Report faults captain in tugboat grounding on Bligh Reef.

The captain of a tugboat that ripped open on Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef in 2009 was unaware of the boat's position when he put it on a crash course with the infamous and well-known navigational hazard, according to a Coast Guard report.

"Unaware of the boat's position". My experience is that captains and mates on tugs don't keep a paper plot. In many cases they should. If the crew is so familiar with the area that they fully aware of the vessels position at all time, for example in a marked river channel, then a full plot is not necessary. In many other cases some form of a plot should be kept. According to Bowditch

"a small craft navigator of limited experience may underestimate the importance of professional navigation. However his vessel's safety depends on his skill. He must plan his track and know his position at all times. Small craft navigation also requires a complete, accurate, and neat plot."

But the captain on the Pathfinder had over thirty years of experience including ten years on the Pathfinder. Not a navigator of "limited experience". This is an example of what a ship mate of mine describes as "I'm so good I'm brain dead"

For captains this is simple, insist on a formal plot. For mates it's a little tougher. I've sailed on tugs where the captain forbid making marks of any kind on the chart. But if allowed don't accept "hand waving" when changing watch. If the off-going officer does not have a plot take the time to lay one down before you relieve.

K.C.

Playing Chicken at the Breakwater

2011-05-10T21:25:00.000-04:00


Suez Canal Senior of Seniors Pilot gestures as he talks on his Phone

I had a moment of schadenfreude reading Deepwater's Marlboro Red. A big car ship on a windy day approaches the breakwater and the pilot boat refuses to board the pilot till they get some cigarettes, ha ha.

In ports in the United States, Japan and Europe safety first is the rule, competent, experienced pilots board well offshore when scheduled. On the other hand in ports where commerce is not king it's a whole other ball game. Pilots rarely board at the designated pilot station and when they do board they may not be competent.

In a Persian Gulf port, after unmooring I've had the pilot let the tugs go and announce that it is too rough to disembark outside and get off, leaving me to navigate out of port. I've also had the pilot get on, make the tugs fast and then tell me to moor the ship on my own.

In ports like these the captain might arrive at the pilot station only to be told by port control the pilot will board at the breakwater and that there is no traffic in the channel. It's wise to take all this with a grain of salt, keep an eye out for outbound traffic, have the bow thruster ready ....and have a supply of Marlboro Reds on hand.

K.C.

OSG Vision - Another Rule Beater

2011-04-25T21:57:00.004-04:00

OSG Vision Photo from Towmasters

Towmasters has a post up: Extreme ATB’s: Towing Vessels Or Something Else?

I can answer this. It is not a tow vessel, it is the house and engine room of a ship. Basically the designers and builder of this vessel have built a ship, broken it in half and then made arrangements to pin it back together. The reason they did this was to dodge regulations. The question is why does the Coast Guard approve it?

Crowley's AT/B - Rule Beater

K.C.

Deadliest Sea - A review

2011-04-23T21:11:00.000-04:00

-Captain Lloyd liked to keep the Coast Guard Cutter Munro upwind and at the ice edge during the fishing season in the Bering Sea.

-Peter Barry, who died when the fishing vessel Western Sea sank, was an Ivy League student.

- A pilot pushing a "Herc" to it's limits is "flying the barber pole".

- Running both the heater and the deicer on a Jayhawk helo requires two generators which reduces it's range.

-The F/V Big Valley went down after leaving port early to avoid Charlie Madicott and the Coast Guard's Alternate Compliance Program.

These were the kind of details that made Deadliest Sea: The Untold Story Behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History by Kalee Thompson a great read.

The book tells the story of the Coast Guard's rescue of 42 crewmembers from the F/V Alaska Ranger. The book is mostly about the rescue itself, the role played by the Cutter Munro, the helo crews, it also tells the story of Ranger crew members.

I very much enjoyed Deadliest Sea - highly recommended.

K.C.

Alaska Ranger- shitty job shitty boat

Inside the Coast Guard's Most Extreme Rescue Popular Mechanic article by author Kalee Thompson

Vessel Displacement and how it is measured

2011-04-15T08:39:00.005-04:00

A 200 meter long PCTC upbound Westerschelde River (photo by K.C.)

Displacement

Displacement is the weight of the vessel and all weights on board. The units most commonly used are metric tons. The concept that weight and displacement of a floating vessel are equal is called Archimedes Principle.

Displacement = weight of the vessel + all the stuff on the vessel
Lightweight Displacement = weight of the vessel
Deadweight = all the stuff on the vessel.

Deadweight, abbreviated dwt is the carrying capacity of individual ships and is used to compare ships as well as a nations entire merchant marine and loses at war.

Deadweight includes cargo, fuel, water, lube oil, stores, the crew. It might seem odd to refer to paying cargo as dead weight but the term deadweight implies that the ship itself is alive. A sailing ship in danger might jettison deadweight, paying or not - the origin of the concept of general average.

Displacement is measured in two ways

- By summing up all weights on board and adding them to the lightship weight. This is done by a program, basically a spreadsheet. The lightship weight is supplied by the builder. The chief engineer supplies the fuel, lube oil. The chief mate manages the ballast. The program computes drafts, in meters, displacement in metric tons and GM in meters.

- The vessel's drafts. The two factors that determine draft are displacement and the density of the water. Drafts can be converted to displacement using a table provided by the builder.

Using some real numbers the PCTC pictured above:

Lightship weight is 16,108 mt.
Here are some typical weights that comprise deadweights
Cargo: 8520 mt - 5500 standard cars at 1.5 mt each
Fuel: 2000 mt (Max 3095)
Ballast: 4000 mt (max 9523 mt)
Fresh water: 400 mt (max 420 mt)
Diesel oil: 100 mt (max 190 mt)
crew and associated gear and equipment is 135 mt

Total Deadweight is this case is 15,155 mt
Lightship weight + deadweight= Displacement
Displacement = 16108 mt +15,155 mt =31,263 mt

A PCTC is at one end of the deadweight/lightweight ratio spectrum. At the other end are large tankers. For example from this site:

A VLCC is a is a ship with a deadweight of from 200,000 to 315,000 tons. The standard VLCC is about 300,000 tons which will allow is to carry about 2 million barrels of oil. The lightweight of such a ship will be around 42,000 tons.

K.C.

Vessel tonnage - Volume

2011-04-13T12:26:00.009-04:00

A PCTC Alongsside

The term tons when applied to vessels may refer to either weight or volume as established in the previous post (here)

This post deals with the tons as a unit of volume, being equal to 100 cubic feet.

The volume measurements of a ship are legal and regulatory matters and are used only on paperwork, not on the day to day operation of the ship.

The random PCTC shown above has the following particulars:

Gross tons (GT) 57,623
Net tons (NT) 17,287
Suez Gross Tons 63,313
Suez Net Tons 62,897
Panama Canal Tons 57,510

Gross Tonnage is the total internal volume of ship in units of 100 cubic feet.

The difference between gross and net is more or less what you'd think. To use the analogy of a pickup truck, gross would be a measure of the volume of the entire truck and net would be the volume of the truck bed alone.

The net tonnage of a vessel is "the gross tonnage less certain deductions for for machinery and passenger spaces, crew's quarters, store rooms and spaces used in navigating the vessel" (Merchant Marine Officer's Handbook")

There are different versions of both net and gross tonnage because fees and regulations are involved and there is more then one way to skin a cat.

Think of the problem of determining the number of board feet in a log.. Not as simple as you'd think. There are various rules to determine board feet of a log including: the Maine Rule, The Bangor Rule, The Holland Rule, The Scribner rule and of course the subversive International log scale.

Measuring the volume of a ship is the same deal, the spaces inside a ship are shaped weird and there is more then one way to scale a log or measure a cargo hold.

As a practical matter my document binder has three certificates which deal with tonnage, they are the International tonnage certificate and one each for the Suez and Panama Canals.

Finally, many vessels are designed with the rules very much in mind which explains why many tugs are 199.0 gross tons. I recall on the Snowbird, part of the galley bulkhead could be unbolted and removed. It was a tonnage door, installed for the sole purpose of converting a non-exempt space into a exempted one and in this case reduce the tonnage to 499 tons.

K.C.

The Tun - A pint's a pound the world around.

2011-04-11T22:37:00.005-04:00

Illustration of sailors carrying a tun barrel in 1597 from The Pilgrims &; Plymouth Colony:1620

The key to understanding the concept of tonnage with regards to ships is understanding the dual use of the term ton.

I remember in my grandmother's kitchen, the answer to certain questions regarding conversions was: "a pint's a pound the world around" . The first time I tried this phrase on an acquaintance I was sharply told that obviously it couldn't be true as it didn't take into account density. But my grandmother managed her kitchen just fine. It true for water and true enough for what she had to measure.

I sometimes drive the high school cross-country ski club around in a 7 passenger minivan. Does "seven passenger capacity"" refer to weight or volume? The answer is neither, it is the number of people the vehicle can carry. But the designers of the car had to consider both the size of people and the weight. So the term "passenger capacity" could include either weight or size or both, or neither.

The original meaning of the word tun, (from this site) from which ton derives, was: "a big container". But later:

"the word also came to mean the capacity of such a container and was used as a unit of both volume and weight"

To link ships with the tun:

This measurement was derived long ago to describe a ship's space for a common cargo — wine. Since wine was shipped in "tuns" that each held 8 barrels or about 242 gallons, a ship that could carry 8,000 wine barrels was considered a 1,000-tun ship. "Tun" evolved into "ton" and then into "gross registered ton."

A 1000 tun ship, I like that. I like the idea of a pint being a pound the world around, I like the idea of a tun being both a weight and a volume and a container the size of boxcar. Throw out the calculator! A tun is a tun is a tun.

Things are more complex now of course - that's another post.

BTW - I like to use Wikipedia for posts like this but the editors of the article "tun" couldn't manage the dual meaning concept. From the article:

The tun is an old English unit of wine cask volume, holding about 954 litres, almost a cubic metre. Etymologically it is identical to the ton, a unit of mass or weight.

Ha! Etymologically identical - so close. People can cope with the idea of light being both a wave and a particle without breaking into a sweat but they can't cope with the idea of a tun being both weight and volume.

It's simple, a passenger is a passenger and a tun is a ton and a pint is a pound, the world around.

K.C.

I see that Wikipedia does better with Tonne here saying: "A full tun, standing about a metre high, could easily weigh a tonne."

Scope - Amount Recommended for Anchoring

2011-04-10T21:51:00.001-04:00

Catenary Vector Forces
A ship's anchor relies upon the weight of the anchor chain (also called cable) to keep the forces acting on the anchor horizontal as much as possible. If the chain, at the anchor, is lifted 15 degrees it is estimated the anchor loses about half it's holding power. Insufficient scope increases the risk of dragging anchor. Excess scope on the other hand increase the risk of damaging or breaking the chain.

When the amount of scope required is determined, the distance between the end of the hawsepipe and the water is usually taken into account but for convenience the mate usually reports the amount of chain at the waters edge - for example the bow might report "6 shots in the water'. It also can be (usually when heaving in) reported by how much is on deck.

Many references recommend a scope of between 5 and 7 (of chain) to 1 (water depth)

Nicholls's Seamanship and Nautical Knowledge makes the following recommendations:

"The minimum scope of mild steel cable to use according to depths of water is given by the following rough guide:"

Below 20 m 6 to 8
20 m to 40 m 4 to 6
over 40 m less then 4

A ship may be required to anchor in as much as 100 meters of water (for example Fujairah Anchorage) with 10 shots of chain out the scope is less then 3 to 1.

Ultimately the master must determine how much scope to use based upon his experience.

K.C.

Ground Tackle Details for PCTC

2011-04-10T08:36:00.011-04:00

.

About 10 shots of anchor chain from a PCTC
A few details about the ground tackle of a 6500 unit PCTC (Pure Car Truck Carrier or informally a car carrier) - a 200 meter ship

On all ships the term ground tackle refers to a vessel's anchors, chain and windlass.

The anchor: The anchor type is AC-14 The weight is about 8 tons

AC-14 Anchor

The chain: The chain consist of links, the type of link is called stud link, the size, which is the diameter of the wire used to form the links is 81mm. The length of an anchor chain is measured in shots. One shot is 15 fathoms or 90 feet (27.4 meters).

Ship's anchor chain ranged out onto the drydock

The port anchor chain is 11 shots - 990 feet or about 300 meters - total weight is 44 tons.
The starboard anchor is 10 shots - 900 feet or about 274 meters - total weight is 40 tons.

The weight of a 81mm diameter chain is 0.144 tons/meter - the weight of each shot therefore is 4 tons.

Each shot is connected by a connecting link.

Connecting Link

The connection between the chain and the anchor includes a swivel, an end link and a bending shackle

The Anchor shackle and bending shackle

. Global Security has a web page with good details here.

The Swivel

The windlass: There are two separate, hydraulically powered windlass, one for each side, the windlass is capable of recovering the chain at a rate of about 1 shot (90 feet) in three minutes.

Scope refers to the amount of chain used at anchor - that will be the next post: Scope - Amount recommended for anchoring.

K.C.

Kennebec Captain - Now on Facebook

2011-04-09T11:02:00.001-04:00

I am working on shifting posts of the "here is an interesting post/article" to a Kennebec Captain Facebook page while using this blog for the more substantive posts. I haven't figured out the details yet but if you can find the Kennebec Captain Facebook page here. If you have any tips / advice leave a comment.
K.C.

Failure of Anchor Gear on Cruise Ship

2011-04-06T20:40:00.010-04:00

Professional Mariner Magazine reports that an 85 kt gust of wind pushed a Carnival Cruise Ship off the pier where it was moored. No surprise there. The standard mooring arrangement isn't going to hold a ship with that much sail area alongside in 85 kts .What caught my eye was this:

"The company said the anchor retrieval equipment malfunctioned after the incident."

I don't know what happened to the anchor gear, no details are provided. (It's standard practice to let go an anchor or two in this type of situation) My guess is at some point during the excitement the anchor gear took a very heavy strain and damaged the anchor windlass. My experience has been that the windlass will fail before the chain or anchor will. A heavy strain on an anchor windlass can bend the main shaft, or twist the winch so that the main gears are misaligned.

If you are using your anchor gear to hold the ship off the rocks it's a good thing if the chain or anchor doesn't fail. If the windlass fails you'll likely still be able veer more chain or hold what you've got.

One thing is, after the yelling dies down and you want to get out of Dodge you're going to have to recover your anchor and chain without the windlass.

K.C.

Maine Sea Captain attends Labor Mural Protest

2011-03-29T21:04:00.007-04:00

"History of Maine Labor" mural (link to artist website with view of mural)

If you want to support the artists involved, here is the link "Saving the "History of Maine Labor" mural

I sail as master in the merchant marine but, having been born and raised in a small mill town in central Maine, my psyche, like most Mainers I know, remains solidly working class. When I heard Gov. LePage wanted to take down a mural at Maine's Department of Labor which depicted scenes of Maine's labor history I felt angry. I drove to Augusta on the 25th and took part in the protest against the governor's plan. I was surprised at the number of people who showed up, the hallway where the press conference was held was packed.

Several spokesman for both Maine artists and Labor spoke movingly about the importance of the mural and of labor to Maine's people and I was glad I attended.

So - here is a link to the site: "Saving the "History of Maine Labor" mural

- The last thing my wife said when I went out the door was "Don't get on television" and I did try not to but got caught briefly here: Governor Responds To Mural Controversy

K.C.

Will the Village People Dancing exec face charges?

2011-03-29T20:25:00.000-04:00

Deepwater Horizon on fire - USCG Photo

When I saw this headline: Report: Feds may charge BP execs with seaman's manslaughter my first thought was: 'good' -but then I though I don't really know the facts, I can't say one way of the other if BP execs deserve charges of seaman's manslaughter. Then I remembered this article:

Shifting Procedures Upset BP's Rig Team

According to the article:

Just days before the Deepwater Horizon exploded, the onshore BP PLC manager in charge of the drilling rig warned his supervisor that last-minute procedural changes were creating "chaos" on the rig.

The crew is drilling what has turned into a troublesome well in water almost a mile deep.

The shoreside director wrote to his boss:

"The operation is not going to succeed if we continue in this manner," wrote John Guide, who directed the Deepwater Horizon's operations from BP's Houston offices.

The answer:

His supervisor, David Sims, told him to tell rig workers "to hang in there." Then Mr. Sims signed off to attend a dance practice, promising to call later in the day: "We're dancing to the Village People!" he wrote.

Hang in there? Dancing? - so yes, they need to explain this to a judge.

K.C.

Best Movie Captain

2011-03-17T20:07:00.003-04:00

Jürgen Prochnow Old Salt Blog reports that Tom Hanks has been picked to play Capt. Phillips in a movie A Captain’s Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, and Dangerous Days at Sea,

Tom Hanks? The best no-nonsense movie captain is Jürgen Prochnow, the actor who portrayed the captain on Das Boot

K.C.

Good source of info on Japan nuclear incident

2011-03-15T22:43:00.001-04:00

There is a good table concerning the ongoing nuclear incident in Japan (Wikipedia), it is being contiously updated, the full article Fukushima I nuclear accidents is here .

For information about units used to measure human exposure to radiation - this article has a good summary. About the atomic crisis in Japan – background information and reliable news sources From the site Fabius Maximus

K.C.

Your Kennebec River Ice house - move it or lose it.

2011-03-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

CG Cutter Shackle (USCG Photo)

AUGUSTA, Maine—The Coast Guard is warning ice fishermen to move their ice shacks from the Kennebec River as it prepares for its springtime ritual of breaking the river ice.

From Coast Guard ready to break Ice

K.C.

Fire on the Horizon - A review

2011-03-06T16:55:00.005-05:00

Fire on the Horizon by gcaptain's John Konrad and Tom Shroder of Washington Post Magazine tells the story of the semi-submersible offshore drilling ship the Deepwater Horizon and, importantly, the story of it's crew. The book weaves together technical and personal details creating context for events as they unfold towards the explosion which resulted in the deaths of eleven crew and the loss of drill ship.

The book gives a good overview of the world of off-shore drilling as well as the details necessary to understand the incident. For me it was like finally getting the story from a trusted source after months of gossip and rumors for uninformed sources.

I was especially interested in the flooding incident the Deepwater Horizon suffered in 2008 which illustrated how dependent rig operators are upon complex instrumentation and how little interest regulators had in a very serious near-miss. Konrad details BP's obsessive focus on worker safety while seemingly missing the big picture of a crew nearing it's breaking point attempting to deal with the difficulties of drilling the Macondo well.

Fire on the Horizon is a page-turner. I recommend it to anyone seeking to understand events leading to the incident which resulted in massive ecological damage to the Gulf of Mexico and changed forever the lives of the crew of the Deepwater Horizon and the lives of the families connected to them.

K.C.

Photos of a couple Navy ship in the PG

2011-02-27T21:28:00.005-05:00

U.S. Navy Ship in the Strait of Hormuz(photo by K.C)

A U.S. Aircraft Carrier in the Persian Gulf (photo by K.C)>

My last post doesn't seem very nautical so I am going to throw up some photos from a couple trips ago.

K.C.

Critical Decision Making Lectures on DVD

2011-02-27T20:11:00.002-05:00

For the last year or so I have been doing some reading on cognitive bias and Normal accident theory so when I saw both subjects listed on The Teaching Company lectures The Art of Critical Decision Making along with some concepts I had not heard of I was intrigued enough to order the DVDs to take to sea.

I was skeptical about academic lectures aimed at businessmen but many of the lessons could be applied to ship operations. Some of the insights might mean the difference between having a clear understanding of what need to be done and just muddling though in some situations. For someone with training in business some of the material covered might be old hat but a lot of it was new to me.

There are reviews from customers here. There were a total of 24 lectures of 30 minutes each.

If you spend time at sea I recommend having a look at what is offered and see if anything catches your eye. It is nice to listen to a lecture rather then reading at the end of a long work day. Not to mention that entertainment choices on the ship are often limited. Last trip it was either theses DVDs or season one of Desperate Housewives.

K.C.
A list of the lectures on 1 of 2 DVDs

Passage planning errors - S/V Quest

2011-02-25T08:40:00.004-05:00

Planned Route of the S/V Quest (from Quest website)

I would no sooner navigate a small sailing vessel in the waters around the Horn of Africa then I would rent an RV and take a trip to Tripoli, Libya. But by all accounts Quest owners Jean and Scott Adam were skilled and experienced ocean cruisers. So what happened?

My guess is they made the error of wishful thinking. No doubt the crew of the Quest badly wanted to finish their voyage and just a a mountain climber can be blinded by summit fever so can yachtsmen fail to properly evaluate risk in some cases.

Below is a standard risk assessment matrix.

Risk Matrix from Step Change in Safety - Task Risk assessment (lots of good risk assessment info (large pdf))
The key point here is that capture by pirates is a catastrophic outcome, so no matter how you rate the likelihood of capture, very strong countermeasures are required, countermeasures that are beyond the resources of a sailing yacht.

My heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the crew of the Sailing vessel Quest.

K.C.

The Hawsepiper has a good take on the rise in the level of violence in the HoA area.- Piracy issues

At Manu's Scrips stronger words- J'accuse

I now accuse the international community- and their trigger happy navies- of culpable homicide in connection with the murder of innocent mariners. They sure as hell had knowledge that their acts were likely to cause death; they are not that incompetent.

I accuse them of criminal negligence that has resulted in the barbaric torture of seamen (BIMCO’s words, not mine) - including savage keelhauling, beatings, threats of execution and such assorted outrages. I accuse them of knowingly and deliberately putting seamen’s lives at risk by their calculated escalation of violence when dealing with hijacked or mother ships, shooting crew- human shields or not- and otherwise gambling with mariner lives at risk with full foreknowledge of inevitable fatal consequences.

Thinking Like a Mariner - Managing the Unexpected

2011-02-20T21:56:00.006-05:00

Managing the Unexpected by Karl Weick and Kathleen Sutcliffe is about so called High Reliability Organization.. I mentioned the book when I first purchased it here -US Airway Flight 1549 and High Reliability Organizations I think the book is worth reading and keeping for reference. It was tough sledding at times, not because the ideas are complex but because it didn't link the examples to the theory very well.

The book didn't really change the way I think about ship operations, I think ship's masters generally already think this way. It did sharpen my understanding and learning the vocabulary has made it easier to communicate these ideas to other people.

There is a professional written review here.

The five key points are:

Preoccupation with failure
Reluctance to simplify interpretations
Sensitivity to operations
Commitment to resilience
Deference to expertise

A problem with books about this subject is the jargon. This NASA pdf file Normal Accident Theory has a short example taken from everyday life which explains terms like "tightly coupled" and "rigidly ordered processes". It uses the example of a person late for an important interview because of a combination of unexpected but normal events such as a broken coffee pot and a bus strike. The bus strike leads to a shortage of cabs which is an example of events that are coupled together in a way that was not foreseen.

I recommend this book for the mariner's bookshelf. Generally, reading and studying HRO and normal accident theory literature will help you think like a mariner.

K.C.

My post Normal Accidents here.

GPS Vulnerabilities

2011-02-16T21:11:00.007-05:00

At the Clay Maitland blog, Michael Grey has a good post - The dangers of GPS reliance about the vulnerabilities of GPS. He relates the story of a test of a GPS jammer and says:

The result was pandemonium, with virtually every system aboard this exceptionally well-equipped (and well-prepared) ship gave up the ghost in a simultaneous burst of loud alarms. Only the vessel’s enhanced Loran was unaffected by the interruption.

eLORAN would have been a good back-up for GPS but it seems it is a dead issue in the U.S., the towers are being destroyed. There is one method even more robust then a GPS/eLORAN system however - dead-reckoning, at least on paper charts that is.

K.C.

Here is an article from BBC News about GPS vulnerabilities to solar activity -
Sat-nav devices face big errors as solar activity rises

Keeping it real - USCG's Towing Safety Advisory Committee

2011-02-13T19:53:00.010-05:00

Tugboats in Burrard Inlet. Photo: Environment Canada.

This article from Oct, 2010 Feds' Foggy Reply to Tug Crewing Questions. (found via the post Why TC does not comment at The Monitor ) is about confusion at Transport Canada regarding tug manning regulations for tugs doing ship assist work in Vancouver Port. The article is worth a quick read, this caught my eye:

what about the assertion from Transport Canada that it is up the vessel master to ensure safe crewing requirements?

Vessel manning is up to the vessel's master? Is that supposed to be a joke? How many vessel masters have any say about manning? None that I know of.

Regulators making critical decisions may or may not have an accurate understanding of the industry they are regulating and to avoid making unwarranted assumptions and so forth, regulators require advice from people with expertise - which leads me to link to Towmaster post: TSAC Reformed?: Mariners Get Official Seats At The Table, Maybe regarding the USCG's Towing Safety Advisory Committee (TSAC) which is supposed to

"advise the Secretary of Transportation, via the Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, on matters relating to shallow-draft inland and coastal waterway navigation and towing safety.

It's no secret among mariners that Coast Guard regulation philosophy tends to lean heavily towards management in writing and applying regulations. I doubt that a mariner with a seat on the TSAC will be able to tilt things much towards the working mariner but at least the right person might keep things a little more realistic then our friends in Vancouver Port

K.C.

Tech Details on Tankers and the Suez Canal

2011-02-06T10:02:00.006-05:00

Typical Tanker (photo from Wikipedia)

The Oil Drum has a good post with some technical details about tankers and the Suez Canal - Oil Tankers in the wake of the Egyptian Crisis.

Lots of technical details, explanation of terminology such as DWT(Dead Weight Tonnage), Aframax and day rates.

I was particularly interested in this article regarding the relative size of the anchors of large tankers - Anchoring large tankers.

Car ship anchors are also relatively light as well, especially when taking into accout the way car ships behave at anchor. My post Ro/Ro Vessels difficulties in wind underway and at anchor is here. When wind speeds reach 30 - 35 kts car ships may or may not stay in place while anchored.

K.C

Alaska Ranger - Sailed though loophole created by the Coast Guard

2011-02-02T10:02:00.014-05:00

F/V Alaska Ranger - USCG Photo

Both the Coast Guard and the NTSB have now released their reports on the sinking of the Alaska Ranger. The Coast Guard's report can be found at the CG site Homeport - type "Alaska Ranger" into the search box to find the report. The NTSB's report can be found here.

The Alaska Ranger case is not complex. The hull of the vessel was in such poor condition that, in typical Bering Sea conditions, water entered and flooded the entire vessel. The actual point of failure evidently was the Kort nozzles which were tacked onto the vessel in 1991.

The Coast Guard report claims that there was ambiguity in regulations regarding the Ranger status as a fishing vessel or a processor. Thirty-two of the forty-nine people aboard the Ranger were titled "Factory Processors", that makes it a processor.

The Coast Guard created a loophole in the law called the Alternate Compliance Program which according to the Coast Guard

"allows exemptions to the class and Load Line requirements while at the same time creating improved safety requirements for these vessels, thereby avoiding the incentive to operate strictly as uninspected fishing vessels. ACSA vessel owners work with the Coast Guard"

In effect the Coast Guard put it's stamp of approval on a vessel which was not seaworthy but which carried thirty non-mariners onto the 32 degree waters of the Bering Sea.

This is a case of risk assessment, scrapping the Alaska Ranger would have risked adversely impacting the owner's bottom line.

K.C.

My previous post Alaska Ranger - shitty job, shitty boat is here

From Jones Act Blog - Coast Guard Releases Investigation Report on ALASKA RANGER Sinking

What Sank the Alaska Ranger? A Perfect Storm of Mechanical Malfunctions and Human Missteps - Kalee Thompson, Author of Deaadliest Sea

Alaska Ranger - Wikipedia Article

Alaska Ranger: Lessons from Coast Guard’s most challenging rescue - Kalee Thompson post at The Coast Guard Compass

Teaching a car driver how to steer a ship

2011-01-26T20:45:00.005-05:00

Controlling the rate of turn while steering a ship is somewhat analogous to controlling the speed of a car.

If we name certain settings of the car throttle as follows: idle, slow, moderate in the analogy they match up to rudder angles, amidships and say 5 and 10 degrees of rudder. Using the car's brakes is similar to using counter rudder, that is rudder in the direction opposite the turn.

Note that cars speed is analogous to the ship's rate of turn, not it's speed.

In story form the analogy works like this: Imagine the car sitting at a stop sign on a road and a ship on a steady course about to make a course change.

In the car we push the throttle to a moderate setting until the car reaches 35 miles an hour at which point the throttle is reduced to a low setting to maintain the 35 miles an hour. As the next stop sign is approached we lift off the throttle and allow the car to coast for a while and as the stop draw closer we apply the brake as required to stop smoothly.

On the ship we arrive at the turn, we put on 10 degrees of rudder until the ship starts turning at the desired rate at which point we reduce to 5 degrees of rudder. As the ship's heading approaches the new course we put the rudder amidships and allow the rate of turn to decrease slightly. As we approach closer to the heading of the new course we apply opposite rudder as required to stop the swing at the new heading.When the ship is steady on the new course we again put the rudder admidships.

I have explained steering to a couple of ABs this way with good results and yes I know, ABs are supposed to know how to steer.

K.C.

Maine Maritime - Wicked Good or The Best Evah?

2011-01-19T08:44:00.004-05:00

Maine Maritime Academy training ship "The State of Maine" moored in Castine Maine - Photo by K.C. .

Several gcaptain forum members from various U.S. maritime academies have some thoughtful and interesting posts up at: Best College (Mass vs Maine vs Texas A&M) for Career Capt - International Unlimited?

Here is "bodore16" writing about Maine Maritime:

Maine is a fantastic school. While our reputation is based more off of the engineering program, the deck program also seems to be rigorous and worthwhile. The faculty at the academy is dedicated and highly experienced. I think you'll find that many of his leadership skills will come from learning from teachers/instructors rather than his participation in the regiment, although that can be what he makes of it. Being such a small school, the faculty and students develop very personal relationships which I think translates into a much better education. The hands on aspect of the training is exemplary as well

I know that graduates from Maine have a good reputation in the industry and the officers I have worked with have been, with a few exception, of high caliber.

One of my loyal readers and occasional commenter is a freshman at MMA, perhaps he will answer the question: Is Maine Maritime Wicked Good or The Best Evah?

K.C.

The Snowbird

2011-01-13T17:41:00.006-05:00

M/V Snowbird Alongside Dutch Harbor (1985) (Photo by K.C. )

I went to work on the Snowbird as mate in February of 1985. We had a crew of six, Captain, mate, Chief Eng, 1 A/E, a deck hand and a cook. We ran from Seattle to Alaska.calling ports in Southeast and Southwest Alaska. My previous post on the Snowbird is here

Ship's cook and deckhand shove pallets around on Deck(Photo by K.C. )

The cargo holds of the Snowbird were insulated and refrigerated. During cargo operations the crew, sometimes with the aid of a couple of guys from the cannery, would move the frozen boxes of seafood, usually crab from Trident Seafoods, and stack it by hand in the holds. It took about two days working all night to load the ship. The holds were kept at about -25F.

View from the port wing - The Fork Lift is used in the hold(Photo by K.C. )

The Snowbird often made up alongside a vessel at anchor. Here the whip from the Snowbird's outboard boom is married to the outboard whip from the bigger freighter. I never heard this set-up called anything but "Jap Style".

M/V Snowbird Alongside a Reefer Freighter (Photo by K.C. )
The two boxes aft are reefers and are used for cargo. They are loaded by dropping loaded pallets aft of the boxes and moving the boxes of seafood into the reefer boxes by hand.

M/V Snowbird Alongside view from the Freighter (Photo by K.C. )

Not much to the wheelhouse, besides throttle and rudder control we had a compass, one radar, a couple VHF a HF/MF radio

Last time I saw the Chief he was making and selling Pal Oil

Al, The Chief, in the Wheelhouse (Photo by K.C. )

I sailed with Doug for two years and learned more about seamanship, navigation and ship handling in that time then any other time in my career prior to sailing master myself.

Captain Doug(Photo by K.C. )

Every voyage involved navigating the Inside Passage then heading across the Gulf of Alaska, needless to say the sailing wasn't always smooth, especially in the winter.

Headed HomePhoto by K.C. )

Working on the Snowbird involved almost no paperwork, no safety management system, but plenty of long hours at low pay in less the ideal conditions

K.C

Letter on Fatigue

2011-01-05T16:10:00.003-05:00

A "Letter on Fatigue" by DAVID MICHAEL FIDDLER Consulting Marine Engineer at gcaptain forum.

UPDATE: The Misunderstood Mariner has a post on this subject: Monday Morning Mariner: A Letter On Fatigue

K.C.

Tie up from Hell - Parana River Argentina

2011-01-03T20:26:00.002-05:00

A simplified drawing of Parallel Mid-body

Towmasters has a post up The Ship From Hell about Hawsepipers post Bad Bunkering.

Basically if you have to make one vessel fast to another it helps if they both have long parallel mid-body to tie to. Same things goes when you are mooring to a pier. Problem is that the terminal can build a facility much cheaper if they don't have to provide a secure place to moor. An example is the tie-up below.

Looking Aft, the stern ramp can be seen on the aft corner

This berth has an area for the stern ramp and room for cargo but would not be a secure place if the wind picks up.

The head lines, the forward part of the Parallel mid body is hanging off the pier

This tie-up is a bit precarious for a 200 meter ship. The facility can be built cheaply but the risk is all taken by the ship.

K.C.

New Seattle Area Maritime Blog

2011-01-03T19:28:00.005-05:00

Nuit at the Beginning of the World

Captain Robert Reeder of the Seattle Area has a new Maritime Blog: Strait of Magellan which is:

A small blog for marine navigation, astronomy, space exploration, meteorology, boating and matters pertaining to maritime education and the maritime industry..

Capt Reeder covers a wide range of topics and doesn't focus on maritime subjects but I found his non-maritime posts to be an interesting read.

K.C.

Photos of Zona Comun Pilot Boat -Rio de la Plata

2011-01-01T21:40:00.005-05:00

Zona Comun Pilot Boat on Río de la Plata(Photo by K.C.)

When I first saw the pilot boat with the Pilot age SA pilot aboard I though the boat itself was tied to a dock of some sort until the whole thing started coming our way.

When bound for the Port of Zarate, Argentina The Plate River pilot boards at Recalada, the Parana River pilot boards at Zona Comun near Buenos Aires Roads.When we switched pilot I managed to snap a couple of fotos.

If there is ever a contest for photos of the most unusual pilot boats I am entering these pictures.

K.C.

Fishing Vessels and AIS

2010-12-27T09:56:00.004-05:00

An AIS display (Wikipedia photo)

Panbo: The Marine Electronic Weblog has a post up about the tragic sinking of the scallop boat Lady Mary - Wreck of the Lady Mary, so many lessons. with links to a good article from The New Jersey Star Ledger.

In the comments I argue that these boats need AIS while other comments suggest better and more prudent seamanship is the answer.

I think that recreation boaters and fisherman (and others) tend to underestimate the workload faced by the bridge watch stander on, say, a container ship in traffic in marginal weather.

The shipping industry has used improved technology to not just increase safety but to increase productivity as well. There is in shipping, a great deal of pressure to stay on schedule. For example in limited visibility deep-sea vessels no longer slow to the speed in which they can stop in half the distance of the visibility but instead are relying upon radar and increasingly AIS and are running at full sea speed regardless of visibility. This puts vessels that are not in the system (no AIS, not reporting to the VTS) at greater risk.

Here is another view from a master mariner:

Manu's Scripts AIS: Friend or Foe From that post:

"(On one ship, I came up to the bridge to find a small fleet of sailing boats a cable and a half away in daylight and good visibility- unseen by the watchkeeper since these were not seen on the radar due to high anticlutter used, and since obviously they didn’t carry AIS, and since looking out of the porthole was apparently not in the contract. I threatened, in jest, to restrict the Officer’s certificate to read ‘Valid only on ship’s which experience no boats’ )

From the same source, a related post not just about AIS - Losing the Plot

K.C.

PCTC ‘Hercules Leader’ - By Capt. Arjun Deshmukh

2010-12-21T20:25:00.006-05:00

A PCTC Alongsside

Thanks to Capt Arjun Deshmukh who has kindly given permission to post the following article about one of the Leader Class PCTCs, the Hercules Leader:

PCTC ‘Hercules Leader’ - By Capt. Arjun Deshmukh

The Pure Car and Truck Carrier M.V. "Hercules Leader" was built by Imabari Shipbuilding Co Ltd Marugame and delivered in October 1998. She was one of 12 sister vessels, which were ordered by Nippon Yusen Kaisha Tokyo in Imabari Shipbuilding and Shin Kurushima Shipyard. The first vessel to roll out was the "Aquarius Leader" in early 1998, to be managed by NYK Shipmanagement Tokyo. The first vessel of this class to be given to Wallem Shipmanagement Ltd for management was the "Cygnus Leader" in mid 1998.

In a space of about 2 years there were 12 vessels built for NYK, at an average of one ship being delivered almost every 2 months from the two yards. Each vessel is named beautifully, after well known star constellations. Wallem Shipmanagement Ltd has been involved in the management of "Hercules Leader" from the time of the vessel's delivery from the yard.

The orders for these vessels were placed in the period prior to 1998, when demand for space on board the world's existing car carriers was far in excess of the capacity of the existing car carrier fleet belonging to the major shipping companies who were operating PCCs (Pure Car Carrier).

In placing the order for these vessels, the term PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier) was conceived, with an eye to carrying anything that could be self driven, pushed, towed, or loaded with a fork lift. These PCTCs are state of the art vessels built to load cars, trucks, bulldozers and heavy equipment, yachts, locomotive engines, tanks and even jet aircraft. The vessel can load heavy cranes or equipment of150 mt weight as this is the capacity of the stern ramp. This class of vessel is the largest car carrier in the world with a space capacity of 6000 standard size cars. This vessel arguably carries the most expensive cargo ever carried on a single vessel. With a typical full load of 5300 cars, each with an average value of US$ 40,000 each (asthe vessel frequently carries a large number of Lexus, Pajero,Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and Jaguar cars), the total value of the cargo can be anything up to US$ 200 million.

The vessel is extremely versatile and has been built so that loading can take place simultaneously in a number of decks, due to the variable positions of its movable internal rampways. There are 12 car decks, 5 of which are liftable. These decks are lifted in order to increase the deck height and load high vehicles. To lift the decks, the vessel is provided with two car deck lifter trucks, essentially a truck with a hydraulic platform which lifts and moves the deck to therequired level.

Other decks are lifted by hydraulic operation. The vessel is equipped with a stern ramp of 150 mt capacity and 2 midship ramps of 30 mt capacity each. To ventilate the cargo holds during cargo operations,the vessel is fitted with 44 cargo hold fans, some of which are reversible and can be used for supply or exhaust as required. To runthese 44 fans, vessel is fitted with 3 generators of 1100 KW capacity each. There are 6 movable internal rampways, which can be adjusted to provide the access to the various decks as required by the stevedores. When closed and secured, these movable rampways provide the gastight sealing for the various fire zones of the vessel. There is a massive50 mt SWL table lifter. This is essentially an elevator which can lift heavy vehicles of up to 50 mt weight, which cannot be driven up the internal rampways, from deck 6 to deck 9. The areas of the car decks,where cars are stowed, is enormous, covering a total area of about 60,000 sq mtrs, roughly the size of 11 football fields. When the ship is fully loaded, however, there is barely space to walk on these decks.

Everything about this ship is huge in terms of size and numbers. There are 715 fire detectors on board (14 additional detectors have been fitted in Engine Room by ship's staff in order to increase fire safety). The vessel has a total of about 36,000 pcs of lashing material of 13 different types. There are over 2200 tube lights in the car decks itself. There are 260 portable fire extinguishers and 111 fire hoses on board. All these fire detectors, lashings, fire extinguishers and hoses, and lights need to be regularly checked and maintained, a daunting task by itself. The vessel has its own service car (a Toyota Hilux pick up) which is used for transporting lashings and cleaning materials from one deck to another. The vessel also has its own fork lift, used for the same purpose and even to assist cargo operations in ports where proper equipment may not be available.

Captain's experience: In spite of working on these ships for a number of years, I can never cease to be amazed whenever I look at the ship from a jetty. The sheer height and size of her never fails to strike me with awe. With a height from keel to the upper deck level of 37 mtrs (roughly corresponding to a 12 storey building), a length of 200 mtrs, a Panamax beam of 32.20 mtrs, a hull windage area of about 5000 sq mtrs and a Gross Tonnage of 57449 she hardly looks like a ship. The vessel looks more like a menacing monster awaiting the order to unleash her power and cut through the water at her maximum cruising speed of 19.7 knots. When standing on the bridge wing for berthing, looking down on the jetty far below can make you feel a bit dizzy!

These vessels were essentially built to service the Japan - Europe trade and to load cars, heavy vehicles and machinery from Europe to the Persian Gulf. However, due to the vagaries of the international car trade business, these vessels have been going almost anywhere and to almost any port. Though these large vessels were built with the North European ports in mind, they have been calling ports which are really not suited for a vessel of this size. Ports like Hodeidah (Yemen), Tripoli (Libya), Tartous (Syria), Casablanca (Morocco), Colombo, Kuwait are some of the ports where the vessel has been calling regularly, but in some of these ports the berth sizes are much too small for a vessel of this size.

These vessels have a very hectic schedule, regularly calling as many as 13 ports in 20 days. Following is a typical schedule in a Persian Gulf run, where the vessel calls 11 ports in about 8 days:

Arr Dep

Port Sultan Qaboos 20th/0615 20th/2030

Fujairah 21st/0630 21st/0900

Ras-al-Khaimah 21st/1850 21st/2130

Sharjah 22nd/0215 22nd/0715

Dubai 22nd/0915 22nd/1400

Jebel Ali 22nd/1742 22nd/2300

Abu Dhabi 23rd/0500 23rd/1300

Doha 24th/1645 25th/0715

Bahrain 26th/0030 26th/0400

Dammam 27th/0015 27th/0745

Kuwait 27th/2400 28th/0645

It is an extremely hectic and exhausting schedule, made even more difficult by the dehydrating summer Gulf temperatures of upto 45 degrees C. In these temperatures the car decks virtually turn into ovens. As you can see from the above schedule, in a 24 hour period, the vessel has called 4 ports in the UAE. The sheer logistics of this kind of schedule is mind boggling. This means 4 berthings, 4 unberthings, 4 port arrivals and 4 port departures, 8 pilots picked up/dropped off, 4 separate cargo operations, 4 dealings with different agents and port authorities, all in a period of 24 hours! One can say that the ship is similar to an aircraft, only difference being the aircraft probably has longer stays at airports!

One may well wonder if it possible to ensure the safety of the vessel under such trying conditions. It is possible, but it requires a great deal of planning beforehand and an extremely well co-ordinated bridge team to ensure the vessel navigates safely under these conditions and to enable the officers to get a certain amount of rest. The passage plans for the various short voyages within the Gulf need to be studied and discussed beforehand with the bridge team. Plans are drawn up to ensure that the chief officer only takes care of cargo operations and berthing / unberthing stations and does not take part in any navigational duties. The 2nd and 3rd officers rotate on a 6 on 6 off basis carrying out navigational duties and cargo watches as required. The cadet assists the master on the bridge for berthing/unberthing stations. This is the only way one can ensure that a rested officer comes on the bridge for the navigational watchkeeping. As for the master, he has to get his rest whenever he can. During the short port stays there is hardly time to unwind and sleep. Quarantine authorities, customs officers, port state control inspectors, shipchandlers, all require to be attended to. In Persian Gulf waters, the master has to be on the bridge for most of the sea navigation and thereby does gets very little rest. To add to this, arr/dep messages to be sent, eta updates to forthcoming ports, port papers to be readied, all without the assistance of a radio officer! A lucky master can just about manage to catch a couple of hours sleep in a 24 hour period.

Another problem which is probably not much understood and not given much importance by people ashore, is the constant changing of time on board. When the vessel is cutting across time zones at the rate of about 470 miles a day, we have to advance or retard our ship's clocks at almost one hour every day. A lot of studies have been done on jet lag and how to minimize it, but probably nobody has studied the effects on the human body of the slow torture of changing your body clock by an hour every day! We on board know well the effects: sleepless nights or waking up at unearthly hours in the morning, feeling sleepy when you need to be wide awake, general hungover and tired feeling which refuses to go away. And no sooner has your body has just started adjusting to a new time zone in ports, the vessel sails out and the time starts changing all over again!

When the vessel is carrying a full load of vehicles, the greatest hazard to the vessel is from fire. Cars with petrol in their tanks is one of the greatest fire hazard. A fire in any one of the cargo compartments can spread rapidly throughout the vessel, with the risk of destroying the vessel and its cargo completely. To prevent the outbreak of fire, we take special precautions on this vessel. Fire rounds of the car decks, accommodation and Engine Room are carried out every 4 hours on a round the clock basis. Additionally Engine Room UMS rounds are carried out every 2 hours when the Engine Room is unmanned. During cargo operations, we keep a strict vigil to ensure "No smoking" regulations by stevedores are followed and that no unsafe practices are being carried out. These precautions are necessary as there was a catastrophic total loss of a car carrier along with its full load of vehicles due to a fire caused in the car decks while discharging at Sharjah in 1998. This fire was caused by stevedores carrying out jump starting of a vehicle (using another battery connected to the dead battery of a car in order to start the engine) while fuel was being loaded in another car nearby. The resultant spark ignited the fuel, and the fire which started with one car, spread rapidly throughout the cargo, resulting in the ship and it cargo being declared a total loss.

To prevent such a fire spreading with such disastrous results, the fire zones of the vessel are always kept sealed at sea, and whenever any zone is not required for cargo operations. We also incorporate in our drills, fighting a car deck fire in port, one of the most difficult situations, as it involves evacuation and head counts of stevedores, quick securing of ramps and other movable rampways in order to seal off the fire zone and subsequent fighting of the fire with CO2 and other means. The vessel is equipped with a fixed fire fighting system consisting of a low pressure fixed CO2 installation containing 53 mt of liquefied carbon dioxide. Maintenance of the engines is an ever present problem. The vessel always berths on arrival and sails immediately as soon as cargo work is completed. There is never time to carry out major maintenance work during port stays. Also between voyages there is rarely a break.

The vessel finishes one voyage and starts loading for the next. In the rare and lucky occasion that the vessel gets a day or two of anchorage in between voyages, the opportunity is taken to carry out overhaul of Main Engine units after ensuring that the weather is going to be all right (with the master keeping a nervous eye on the wind indicator while the engine is being opened up!)

There is a great amount of work to be done on these vessels. After the vessel is loaded, daily rounds to check and adjust the lashings. With a cargo of about 5000 units, there could be 23,000 lashings to be inspected and tightened if required. The cars are to be inspected for any damages which may have been missed at the time of loading. Regular and careful rounds of car decks to ensure that cars are not being damaged by any water or hydraulic oil leakages from the vessel. We carry a highly sensitive and precious cargo and it must be delivered in the same new condition as it has been loaded. After all, would you buy a car that has a few paint scratches or a tiny dent? The Japanese car manufacturers are extremely particular that no damage occurs on their vehicles. To uphold the car manufacturer's and NYK's reputation, we do our best and take all the precautions required to strive for zero damage to the cargo.

It is said that car carriers are safest while sailing at sea, less safe when at berth, and least safe when at anchor. With its massive windage area, these vessels are affected a great deal by the wind. One has to make allowance for this while navigating in narrow channels. When you are berthed and there is a strong offshore wind, the vessel can be pushed off the berth. When the vessel is at anchor and wind speed exceeds 15 m/sec (30 kts) there are very high chances of dragging the anchor. Life on these vessels can be a constant struggle against the weather. One of the other constant worries is the vessel calling small ports with narrow entrances and limited berthing space. The vessel is really not suitable for such ports, but as mentioned earlier, due to ever changing requirements of the car trade business, one has to call at these ports. Ports that are really difficult to berth include Piraeus, Colombo, Hodeidah, Casablanca. Whenever this huge monster of a vessel has to berth at such ports, it is an extremely stressful experience. There is a tremendous amount of work involved in maintaining the ship to the exacting level required by NYK and Wallem Shipmanagement Ltd. Keeping a huge vessel like this with its enormous number of equipments in top level condition is a difficult task, but we have been carrying it out in the past and are striving to still do so. Many visitors on this vessel have been astounded by her size and even more amazed when told that she is being operated by a crew of 20! These sprawling car decks must be swept clean and mopped after each voyage in order to be clean and ready for the next cargo. Some areas of the car decks may require de-scaling and painting, if paint drying time permits (after getting permission from NYK for the painting). The 36,000 lashings must be collected, inventoried (there are 13 different types of claspers, web lashings, belts, chains and hooks), maintained and kept ready for use for the next loading, which sometimes, as in Europe, begins before the last port cargo is discharged.

In our endeavour to maintain the vessel and its safety requirements we are assisted by the Nav9000 inspection. Nav9000 is NYK's Specified Requirements for Safe Operation and Environmental Protection. It is acode specifying requirements for the safety management system which NYK line and its shipmanagement companies should have in order that NYK line may fulfill its responsibilities to secure the safe operation of operating ships and protect the environment for its clients and society. The Nav9000 checklist for inspection contains almost 600 items. A lot of work has to be carried out in preparation for the audits which are carried out every 6 to 9 months to check vessel's Nav9000 compliance. But this has helped us to improve our standards of safety and environmental protection. One of master's important jobs is to see that staff is not being stressed beyond levels of endurance,obtain sufficient rest under the most trying conditions, and keep up the morale which can sink low due to the stressful schedule and also due to the rare chance of stepping ashore. Is there anything special which sets apart personnel working on PCCs from the the rest? No special certificate is required to work on these vessels, no special endorsement required on your certificate. Just the quality to accept hard work and endless working hours with a smile, the ability to face new challenges every day, and to maintain a sense of humour under the most difficult circumstances. It certainly is most helpful if the officers and crew have served on PCC/PCTC earlier, though this does not always happen. As for the master, chief officer and chief engineer, it is certainly a must that they have previous experience on these type of vessels.

I would like to thank Wallem Shipmanagement Ltd and the charterers Nippon Yusen Kaisha Tokyo for their guidance and support in running this vessel, maintaining her to the high standards required, and in our aim to reach our goal of "Zero deficiencies, zero cargo damage, zero off-hire and zero engine stoppage".

View From My Room

2010-12-16T07:52:00.005-05:00

View from my room - Santos Brazil

Just got off the ship at 0100 today. Cold and rainy here in Santos. By cold I mean about 70F. I was told that Maine is "really cold". I hope that means about 65F, if not I'll be in hard shape, blood thickness-wise when I get home.

K.C.

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T17:59:00.002-05:00

Anchored early this afternoon in 30 meters of water, light airs, low swell,
sandy bottom. Officers and crew were able to sit down and enjoy the thanksgiving meal.
The lights of the City of Santos Brazil visible about 10 miles away. Crew not allowed ashore until after the ship is alongside, sometime early tomorrow. So, that kind of happy Thanksgiving.

K.C.

Received: from MPD at Globe Wireless;
Thu, 25 Nov 2010 23:01 UTC
Message-id: 992507404

ECSA

2010-11-11T07:27:00.002-05:00

East Coast of South America. I have an inbox full of messages from agents. A dozen ports in November. I need a black belt in Microsoft Outlook.
K.C.

Received: from MPD at Globe Wireless;
Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:31 UTC
Message-id: 987827183

Capt McWhirr on Weather Routing

2010-09-16T01:59:00.002-04:00

Captain McWhirr on weather routing:

"But suppose I went swinging off my course and came in two days late, and they asked me: 'Where have you been all that time, Captain?' What could I say to that? 'Went around to dodge the bad weather,' I would say. 'It must've been dam' bad,' they would say. 'Don't know,' I would have to say; 'I've dodged clear of it.'

The whole story is here - Typhoon by Joseph Conrad

K.C.

Rowing in Heavy Weather - Advice I hope I never need.

2010-09-12T16:55:00.002-04:00

Photo from Northwest Maritime Institute

"With the double-ender whaleboat type you'll probably find it easier to take the seas over the stern. With stern to the sea and enough motion from the oars to give steerageway, you have an ideal situation under the circumstances. Or at least as ideal a situation as one could have riding out a gale in midocean in a lifeboat"

-From Survival Guide for the Mariner

Labor Day Post with Ramblin' Jack Elliot - Look out, you Fascists!

2010-09-06T21:52:00.001-04:00

Labor day is a good time to check out the site Adventures of the Black Gang - Check out Ramblin’ Jack Elliot taking a vacation on a Liberty Ship - with a dish-washing job, on a ship loaded with TNT.

Lots of good stuff.

music, photos, art, tattoos, history, maritime wackiness says Monkey Fist

K.C.

Disposing of waste oil the easy way - legally.

2010-09-02T19:26:00.000-04:00

I came across US Coast Guard Prevention Blog the other day looks like it is a worthwhile site and I have added it to my blogroll.

I have a small beef with one paragraph from the post Catching Polluters: Marine Pollution Enforcement—Part 1

The handling of oily waste is a constant challenge because it is continually produced, and the operation and maintenance of pollution prevention equipment takes time and effort. Additionally, disposal options can be costly. This has led some vessels to discharge oily waste overboard in direct contravention of MARPOL requirements.

Often inspectors assume that a ship produces far more waste oil then it can dispose of or that it is easier to pump oil over the side then it is to disposed of it legally.

Depending how the ship is set up this is not necessarily true. If the ship is set up right the easiest method to handle waste oil is send it to the waste oil tank, decant any water and burn the oil in the incinerator. Jury rigging the system to pump oil directly over the side would be far more effort. In addition a well designed engine room will have more capacity to burn oil in this fashion then is produced.

Think of your toilet at home, have you ever considered removing the waste and disposing of it illegally? No, because it is much easier to give the lever a push.

Aboard a newer, modern ship, Port State Control officers should not necessarily assume that illegally pumping oil over the side is the practical or desirable option for the crew.

K.C.

PORTFIRE 40

2010-09-01T06:54:00.011-04:00

PORTFIRE 40
TradeWinds recently published a list of the 100 most powerful movers and shakers in shipping, You can't see who they are without a subscription but you can see the image of a big board room table here. The top 100 is about $$$, TradeWinds writes of these top 100:

Is it the head of the world’s biggest shipping group, the wealthiest owner or someone controlling a top stock exchange listed company? And how will the competing claims of liners, tankers and bulkers be balanced?

The PORTFIRE 40 on the other hand isn't about big money it is about ideas, creativity and passion. Let's turn the sea bag upside down and give it another shake and get at the good stuff still hidden in there.

Ryan Skinner of 59° 56' N has more on The PORTFIRE 40 at:
Meet the Portfire40!

Bob Couttie of Marine Acident Casebook with: Enough of the same suits.

Meet the Portfire40. Maritime people making a difference… from Shipping Podcasts which is provided by Coracle Online Ltd: professional development provider with a focus on the shipping and commodity industries.

Amver.com - Announcing Portfire 40 -with a video with by Benjamin Strong

Shiptalk - Meet the Portfire40!

The always focused Sea Fever has a good post on the Portfire 40 True North Leadership and the PortFire 40

gcaptain posts Portfire 40 Launches! Who do you think should make the list?

Any recommendations suggestions nominations or what have you - leave them in comments or send an email.

K.C.

Whatever happened to A Whale?

2010-08-31T21:51:00.003-04:00

T/V A Whale (USCG Photo)

What ever happened to the vessel A Whale? It is in Sao Luis, Brazil. The blog oil-electric is on it: A Whale: The Rail Connection.

What happened to Kevin Costner's skimmers? - they seemed to have dropped out of sight.
K.C.

Review of "Sway The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior

2010-08-29T21:27:00.004-04:00

I picked up Sway The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior when I was passing thought the airport a couple of trips ago. Mario Vittone reviews it here at Weekly Leader, another short review here.

Sway is a good read, and a good introduction to the subject of cognitive biases. which I have not given much thought to before. A couple of the examples used were the Tenerife airport disaster and the Mount Everest Disaster which was the subject of Jon Krakauer's book Into Thin Air.

If you have ever had a "what was I thinking" moment after an incident or near incident it is likely you have been the victim of cognitive bias. If you have to make operational decisions, understanding how to avoid bias could be critical.

K.C.

Vessel encounters drunks. Which rule applies?

2010-08-19T10:41:00.008-04:00

Two Sail boats (Wikipedia) via Bitter End - this article From The Kitsup Sun Sailboaters Impede Bainbridge Ferry, Moon Crew

The story is that four drunks in a boat forced a Washington State Ferry to take evasive maneuvers to avoid hitting them.

What was interesting about the article was the comments section. It was largely a back and forth as to which rule applied. Was it a narrow channel? Special circumstance? do ferries on the regular run have special privileges and so forth. Here is a sample

Correct me if I am wrong, but according to marine rules I believe a sail boat under sail has the right of way over motorized marine traffic.
The ferry was required to maneuver around the sail boat not the other way around.

This is a case of knowing just enough to be dangerous. An encounter with a small pleasure craft with four drunks aboard is not a case where boaters need to scramble to review the rule of the road. They just need to stay (expletive deleted) out of the way.

RULE 2 reads:

Nothing in these Rules shall exonerate any vessel, or the owner, master or crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to comply with these Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen, or by the special circumstances of the case.

Four drunks in a sailboat cannot be depended upon to follow the ordinary practice of seaman. In this case the sailboat can not safely be treated as a vessel but rather as a randomly moving hazard to navigation.

In a encounter between two commercial vessels, experienced seaman aboard each vessel will recognize the limitations of the other. In addition contact is often made via VHF to clarify the situation and to negotiate a passage. This is often not the case in an encounter between a small pleasure craft and a larger commercial vessel.

Just the fact that a pleasure vessel would force a rules of the road situation upon a larger, less maneuverable vessel demonstrates that the operator of the pleasure craft is no seaman.
Unlike the case of an encounter between two commercial vessels, the situation with a small pleasure craft is far less symmetrical. Often the lowest risk choice for the larger vessel is to hope the smaller vessel has the sense to stay clear. When a small craft draws too close and reaches a point where only action by the smaller vessel can avoid a collision the hope is that an appreciation of the situation will penetrate past the portion of the operators brain that deals with rules of the road and into the reptilian part of his brain that fears death.

Bottom line is give the working mariners a break and stay clear. Well clear. Please.

K.C.

_________________________________________________

This page, from Charleston Harbor port officials tells it like it is.

From a kayak rental outfit this: "We have often heard paddlers assert, incorrectly, that they have the "right of way" over all other vessels" ;

My post Ship vs Boat, who has the Right of Way

My post Fishing vessels and imaginary lookouts

SUP and Merrymeeting Bay Ace

2010-08-11T12:59:00.006-04:00

Woman Stand up Paddle Surfing - Photo from Wikipedia

I just learned about Stand Up Paddling from Old Salt Blog - What’s SUP? Stand-Up Paddling – the New Rage on the Water.

Lately my stomping ground has been Merrymeeting Bay where I have become a MerryMeeting Bay Ace which I define as someone who has paddled all five rivers that enter the Bay (no photos, don't want to risk the camera going into the water). I'd like to give the SUP board a try there. But I am not going to invite NY Tugmaster along.

K.C.

UPDATE: I though I was very clever with the Ace idea but I followed my own link and I see there are six rivers - I forgot the Eastern River.

Tenerife Airport Disaster and Bridge Resource Management

2010-08-07T19:38:00.003-04:00

Bridge Simulator USMMA Photo

Continuing from my last post about Mario Vitton's post - Experience Means Nothing - Judgment is Everything. , regarding the Tenerife airport disaster . Mario writes:

With decades of experience and training telling him “no,” Van Zanten’s judgment failed him (and 582 others) and he made a mistake a rookie wouldn’t have dared to; why?

That's right of course, Van Zanten's judgment did fail him. Looking at it another way however Van Zanten's mental model was wrong.

Capt Van Zanten couldn't see the runway because of fog but in his mental model, the runway was clear. When the second officer questioned that model, saying "is he not clear that Pan American" - this was a mismatch. In this case Capt. Van Zanten choose to reject the feedback. as inaccurate. Air safety research based upon this incident points to the hierarchical nature of the decision making used by flight crew as a factor in the accident.

Today, decision making among flight crews has been made more robust by the introduction of Cockpit Resource Management (CRM) . Basically CRM (and it's close cousin Bridge Resource Management or BRM) stress the importance of teamwork. Pilots must now place more weight upon the mismatch among the mental models of other team members.

Another way to say this is - before taking off in the fog make sure everyone is on the same page.

K.C.

My post: 40 second Boyd here

My post about the Tenerife incident here

Judgment or Experience? - Dodging the question

2010-08-06T22:42:00.005-04:00

I have been mulling over Mario Vitton's post at Weekly Leader - Experience Means Nothing - Judgment is Everything.

I'll take a stab at this. I would say that knowledge is the result of grinding experience in the mill of judgment.

With regards to maintaining situational awareness, rather then juggle terms I think a more productive way to think about this is in terms mental models.

In this view there is the real world and a model of the world in our head. When information from the real world does not line up with our mental models, what we expect, there is a mismatch. To resolve the mismatch we have two choices, to either reject the feedback as incorrect or adjust our mental model (or some combination of both)

We do this all the time, when we encounter a mismatch we might say that something "doesn't make sense" If it is something important we reject the information as not accurate or adjust our view so that it does make sense.

K.C.

A little off topic but an interesting example of something that appears to violate common sense is the answer to the question: Can a wind-driven vehicle travel directly down-wind faster than the wind? or DDWFTTW. a post explaining here,

A forum - trying to "make sense" of the idea

Finally - a you tube video showing one way to "make sense" of the concept.

Opps - One more: To all fellow skeptics, start baking that humble pie, or eat your hat. Your choice."

Piracy Post at USNI Blog

2010-07-28T11:15:00.002-04:00

USNI site has a good summary of the the origins of piracy in the Horn of Africa region The Reality of Piracy by Alexander Martin.

The first organized piracy ring in Somalia was started in Harradera. In 2004 the Harradera cartel expended their hunt for ransoms beyond the near-coastal waters and into an over-the-horizon effort targeting larger ships, with bigger payoffs. In 2005 they determined they could extract immense payoffs from commercial merchant ships and by 2006 began capturing larger “motherships” to give them the legs they needed to capture the big prizes – merchant cargo vessels with no security and large insurance umbrellas.

The rest of the post is not bad but most of the comment thread is the usual argument that the problem could be solved easily if we were only willing to get tough. Maybe, but I always remember what one of my former chief engineers used to say, "You've got to be smart."

K.C.

Identifying Pirate Skiffs in the Gulf of Aden

2010-07-20T09:33:00.016-04:00

50 cal rifle

The site Information Dissemination has a post Swarm Tactics with some photos from a Sina article: 50 pirate vessels driven out by Chinese naval fleet

I don't agree with the original captions from Sina or the comments at I.D. I have put the original captions at the top of each photo and my own captions at the bottom in bold.

About 50 suspected pirate vessels approach a ship escorted by the Chinese naval fleet in the Gulf of Aden, Feb. 25, 2010. The vessels harassed the 31 Chinese and foreign ships that the naval fleet was escorting. They were driven out soon after the fleet dispatched vessels and helicopters. (Xinhua Photo)

My caption: Typical behavior of Gulf of Aden Fishing Vessels

I began routinely making transits through the GoA in 1999, before pirates became a problem, it wasn't uncommon to see fisherman acting the way they are shown in the photo above.

Next photo from the same post.

A suspected pirate vessel is driven out by the Chinese naval fleet in the Gulf of Aden, February 25, 2010. (Xinhua Photo)

My Caption: A typical fishing skiff in the Gulf of Aden.

Regarding the use of large outboard engines on fishing skiffs, it is sometimes asserted that fisherman have no need for such powerful engines on their skiff but in fact it is a long standing practice, in place prior to the piracy problem in the area:

From: A REVIEW OF THE BIOLOGY AND FISHERIES FOR LONGTAIL TUNA (THUNNUS TONGGOL) IN THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION

Two types of vessels are engaged in fisheries for longtail tuna. One type is the traditional design dhow constructed of wood ranging in length from 10 to 25 m. These vessels are powered by inboard diesel engines of 33–240 HP. The other type is the planing hull skiff constructed of glass-reinforced plastic (GRP) ranging in length from 5 to 9 m. These skiffs are powered by outboard engines of 25 to 120 HP.

Another characteristic of the fishing vessels which seems suspicious is the often apparent erratic behavior of the fishing skiff, but again I have observed the same behavior prior to 2007 when the piracy problem first began. Here from:
Information and Guidance to Shipping in Gulf of Aden and adjacent waters.

Most small boats in the area are legal fishing boats. This is in particular the case south of Aden and southeast of Mukalla. Those fishing skiffs are using aggressive manoeuvres and weapons might be seen, as these fishermen occasionally also are victims to armed robbery

Suppressing piracy in the Gulf of Aden is problematic because it is difficult to distinguish between fishing skiffs and pirate skiffs.

From Information Dissemination again an explanation: Somalia Piracy - A Backgrounder

There are typically around 6000 small fishing skiffs off the coast of Somalia and in the region, with an additional many hundred larger fishing vessels (similar to dhows) in the region. It is very difficult to tell the difference between a fishing vessel and a pirate vessel, all of the vessels look the same.

The reason that suppressing piracy in the GoA is so difficult is that the pirates use the same type of outboard powered skiffs as the fisherman.

Below, (from Modern Day Pirate Tales) is a pirate skiff, note the hooked ladder used for boarding ships.

Pirate skiff, Gulf of Aden, April 18, 2009
(photo: MCorporal David Tillotson, Air Detachment HMCS Winnipeg, CF Combat Camera)

The tip-off is the ladder, fisherman don't use ladders.

I've seen comments and been asked why not just shoot the pirates but it is not a question of firepower or will but one of identification. First step to solving a problem is understanding it.

K.C.

The "A Whale" Recovers No Oil

2010-07-16T19:10:00.005-04:00

T/V A Whale (USCG Photo)

The results from the testing the A Whale in the Gulf oil spill are in. According to Coast Guard Rear Admiral Paul Zunkunft after two week of testing the A Whale recovered no oil. From Reuters Giant 'super skimmer' no help with Gulf oil spill.

"The results are the amount of oil recovered by the A Whale is nil," Zunkunft said"

The A Whale is the wrong tool for the job.

K.C.

Good post by a mariner at Oil-Electric: A Whale: Super Skimmer or Great White Elephant? (Update 7-5)

New release from Unified Command here
My other post on the A Whale:

Video of T/V A Whale in Operation.
"A Whale" - Pay by Barrel Recovered, Not by the Day
The "A Whale" - Not a skimmer - The Gulf not a lawn
Would Supertankers be useful on the GoM Oil Spill?

Jones Act hinders Short Sea Shipping

2010-07-14T18:41:00.002-04:00

Coastwise vessel Beirut Lebanon (Photo by K.C.)

The Jones Act is seen as one of the factors hindering the growth of short sea shipping. The two salient parts of the Jones Act are the requirement that the crew be U.S. mariners and that the vessels be built in the United States. It is the second requirement that hinders short sea shipping. From Marine News via MarineLink.com: Navigating Obstacles: Short Sea Shipping

....crewing and flagging of a vessel have very little impact on the cost — it’s the price of building vessels in the U.S. that puts short-sea shipping at a significant disadvantage to trucking

Eliminating the U.S. built requirement would align coastwise cabotage laws with similar laws which protect U.S. airlines and trucking industries. Both the trucking and the airline industries are protected from foreign competition but are not required to purchase equipment built exclusively in the United States. A U.S. trucker is free to purchase a truck from say Volvo and U.S. airlines can purchase an Airbus if they wish.

Obviously there would be winners and losers if the built in U.S. requirement was dropped. The winners would be American mariners, other highway users, our economy and the environment.

K.C.

Other views:

Jones Act thread at gcaptain forum.

From Kelly Sweeny Encourage short-sea shipping, but keep the Jones Act intact

Ro/Ro Vessels dificulties in wind underway and at anchor

2010-07-14T10:30:00.001-04:00

A 200 meter long PCTC upbound Westerschelde River (photo by K.C.)

From: The Nautical Institute Marine Accident Reporting Scheme MARS Report No 190 August 2008

Ro-ro ships – manoeuvring difficulties

An inbound pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) was approaching the pilot station at her scheduled time, in very confined waters. A gale warning was in force and with only two miles to go to the pilot embarkation point, the wind suddenly increased and pilotage services were abruptly suspended.

The master was instructed to await further orders and decided to head back to open waters rather than wait in the confined area or anchor there. The wind caught the beam of the high-freeboard and low draught vessel, and started setting her on to the lee shore, less than two miles downwind. Using full rudder and engine power, and transmitting appropriate signals on the air horn and VHF radio, the master just managed to turn the ship’s head into the wind and execute the 180-degree turn and head out to open sea.

Once out of the lee of the land, the full force of the gale caused the ship to move sideways at about five knots, even with the engine going on harbour full ahead. The vessel remained stubbornly beam on to the wind despite all attempts to heave to with the head into the sea and swell. This type of vessel has been rightly described as a ‘ping-pong ball on the water’ and under high wind conditions, ro-ros are almost impossible to control or manoeuvre.

At the first indication of approaching strong winds, masters of ro-ros and similar high-sided vessels must not hesitate to leave port or confined waters and anchorages and head out to open sea. Maintaining a safe position under way in the lee of a high offshore island is a safe option, provided the location and predicted movement of the weather system is known.

If sailing from port is not possible, ships have been kept alongside with continuous use of tugs, and, in uncrowded anchorages, mooring to two bower anchors may considered, but with engines in full readiness until the wind has abated.

Even with full scope of chain on both anchors, ro-ro vessels tend to yaw violently in strong winds and the ‘jerk’ at the extremity of each yaw may cause the anchors to drag, especially if the holding ground is less than ideal.

Mariners whose vessels may be navigating or lying at anchor near a ro-ro vessel in high winds, must allow for a greater margin of safety.

Video of T/V A Whale in operaton.

2010-07-09T10:54:00.003-04:00

T/V A Whale (USCG Photo)

MarineLog has a video of the T/V A Whale in action.

The problem with capturing oil from the sea is that the surface of the sea is uneven and constantly changing. The slots cut into the hull of the A Whale on the other hand are fixed.

The other issue it the nature of the movement of the oil. Here is: Why is oil spill hard to predict? Look to the clouds.

According to the Coast Guard the A Whale managed to recover 1100 barrels of oil in 24 hours. The report from CNN here. That is much lower then the hype from the owner who claimed (NOLA.com A Whale' oil skimmer testing extended a week)
that:

A Whale can process 21 million gallons oily water a day. That's about 75 percent of the total collected in two and a half months by 500 smaller skimmers working to clean up the massive BP spill.

In other words the claim was that A Whale would be about 28,000 times more effective then the skimmers already working the spill.

The media has been conflating the terms "oily water" and "oil" which makes the comparisons confusing. In any case these numbers are not a meaningful measure of how effective the T/V A Whale is at reducing the adverse environmental and economic impacts of the oil spill.

K.C.

The "A Whale" - Not a skimmer - The Gulf not a lawn

2010-07-04T09:30:00.010-04:00

A lawn mower (Photo from Wikipedia)

UPDATE: From MarineLog A Whale continues skimming operations

If you cut the blades off a lawn mower and fastened them underneath a tractor trailer truck would the result be a very large lawn mower? Or would the result be a tractor trailer truck, with lawnmower blades affixed underneath, good for neither hauling freight nor mowing lawns?

What about the vessel "A Whale"? Is it really the world's largest skimmers or is it a tanker/bulker with slots cut into the hull and being sold as a skimmer?

The lawn mower analogy comes from the ship owners themselves, CEO Nobu Su told reporters that A whale was “like a lawnmower cutting the grass,” and that is would be: "effectively doubling the skimming capability of the oil response effort,"

Skimming oil from the surface of the sea under the influnce of the wind and current is not like mowing the lawn and the A Whale is more tanker then skimmer, a tanker with slots cut in the hull.

The best reporting I've seen on the A Whale is here: Oil-eating Whale or ‘white elephant’? This is the only report I have seen where someone with some maritime expertise was consulted, namely Dennis Bryant, known here via the site Bryant's Maritime Blog

We should hear some reports on the A Whale soon, it is currently being tested in the Gulf. I haven't seen the math on the speed of the ship, the width of the swath being picked up, percentages of oil recovered and so forth, I don't think reporters are doing a very good job of covering this story.

K.C.

Coast Guard refuses to buckle - Barges not seaworthy

2010-06-30T21:57:00.004-04:00

Voyage of the Vasa (From Wikipedia)

A few days back there was a great deal of frustration and anger directed at government red tape in general and the Coast Guard specifically when some barges which had been jury rigged to clean oil were delayed. (Coast Guard overrides Bobby Jindal, orders barges to stop cleaning oil)

At the time of the delay it seemed to Governer Jindal and others that it was extremely urgent that these barges get back to work, following Coast Guard regulations seems like an unnecessary hindrance. From the article:

Brassel repeatedly declined to say whether the Coast Guard balances safety considerations in an urgent, disaster response scenario like what is happening in the Gulf versus ordinary circumstances when time is not of the essence.

Of course if the decision had been made to put the barges to work without the appropriate safety measures and an accident had occurred it would have been obvious in hindsight that it was a mistake. An example of this is the case of the Deepwater Horizon

Keeping the BP Deepwater from slipping further behind schedule seemed very urgent just before it exploded and sank. Reportedly short cuts were taken to "to speed finishing the well," which was running "significantly behind schedule. (Lawmakers accuse BP of 'shortcuts')

You'd think that the folks that were urgently pushing to have possibly unseaworthy vessel to sea would be able to put two and two together. A Bravo Zulu to the Coast Guard for sticking to their guns.

K.C.

"A Whale" - Pay by Barrel Recovered, Not by the Day

2010-06-29T12:21:00.013-04:00

Boomed marshes containing oil spill (NOAA Photo)

UPDATE - Video from CNN here - make me a little more optimistic

UPDATE 2 -FAQ Has the Unified Command considered using supertankers to help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf?

When I first saw a photo of the vessel "A Whale" (Massive oil-skimming ship makes stop in Norfolk) it seemed so unlikely that I though someone had photo-shopped the slots in the side. But is is for real, so here are some questions/thoughts:

In order for it to work at all, the slots must be kept at the proper depth. The ship's draft will have to be controlled carefully. As the ship fills with oil, ballast would presumably be discharged to maintain the proper draft.

The sea state will change the relationship between the depth of the slots and the surface. Swell will cause the ship to pitch and roll which will constantly change the depth of the slots.

From the article:

A Whale could handle 500,000 barrels of oily water a day, or slightly less than what all the skimmers now in the Gulf have gathered in more than 60 days on the job, Su said.

A skimmers effectiveness cannot be measured only by bbl of oily water/day. The area skimmed is important, this design seems very limited in that regard. Perhaps it could be fitted with booms to increase the area swept.

From the article again:

Because the vessel is Taiwanese and was built in South Korea, it needs an exemption from the Jones Act, a federal law requiring commercial ships doing business in U.S. coastal waters to be American-flagged

I think this is a red herring issue, already discussed to death below.

"Bureaucracy shouldn't stand in the way of cleaning up our coastline," Overton said. "

This is another way of saying we want BP to cut us a big check and we don't want to have to answer a lot of questions.

Overton said. "We need help. So I encourage them to just go down there and not take no for an answer. I mean, seriously, how can it hurt?"

It can hurt by consuming resources ineffectively and by displacing more effective methods.

My recommendation to BP is put them to work, but pay them by barrels of oil recovered, not by the day.

K.C.

A Dozen Assorted Black Boxes, What could go wrong?

2010-06-27T15:03:00.003-04:00

Photo stolen from The Marine Installer's Rant
From The Marine Installer's Rant - PC purgatory. Increased complexity equals reduced reliability.

A display splitter, an Actisense NMEA multiplexer, and a dozen other assorted black boxes are there also. So what could go wrong here? Don't worry, I'm gonna tell you.

Great post, a perfect mix of theory and practice. Just go read it, if you don't like it I'll give you your money back.

K.C.

Would Supertankers be useful on the GoM Oil Spill?

2010-06-25T22:11:00.011-04:00

Supertanker (Photo from Wikipedia)

There has been a number of reports asking why supertankers haven't been called in to assist with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. For example from the Science Christian Monitor Jones Act: Does Gulf oil spill cleanup need more foreign boats?

What Mr. Obama hasn't done is announce that he's calling in maritime mercenaries – foreign skimmers or Saudi supertankers – to help deal with the Gulf oil spill cleanup.

Supposedly this was done in an unreported 700 million gallon in the Persian Gulf. Here is a story at Esquire -The Secret, 700-Million-Gallon Oil Fix That Worked — and Might Save the Gulf

The article is short on details as to exactly how a supertanker would be used, this was the key detail:

having empty ships park near the Saudi spill and pull the oil off the water.

The problem is a typical oil tanker can not "pull the oil off the water" without some sort of modification and this is not explained in the article.

The Oil Drum has a post regarding this claim of the unreported oil spill in the PG here - Crude Confessions: Massive Saudi Oil Spill in 1993?

A supertanker can move large quantities of oil but from what I have seen (Oil Spill raw video from the Times-Picayune) that is not the nature of the problem.

Here is an interesting article and video from CBS which illustrates the nature of the problem: Skimmers Move at Slow Pace Taking Oil from Gulf From the text:

"The biggest challenge, really, is finding and locating these ribbons of oil," said Swanson. "They're very difficult to see."

And they're almost as tough to catch, made up of thousands of hamburger-sized pieces and moving with the current.

It is slow work, moving at about 2 miles per hour. Any faster and the oil sloshes over the boom.

Once a line of boom is full of oil, Coast Guard sailors turn on the pump moving it through a hose, onto the ship and into holding tanks.

Swanson's ship collected nearly 12,000 gallons of oil in three days, a small dent in a massive spill.

If the video is typical, the problem is finding, containing and recovering the oil. In this case I can't see where a supertanker would be of much use. For that matter I wonder if BP bought Kevin Costner's machines just to shut him up?

From: Cleanup technology not apace with spills

"I'm not saying there aren't ways to improve or tweak the system," Nancy Kinner, co-director of the Coastal Response Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, told the Times. "But you're not going to change the laws of physics."

A supertanker is the largest vessel ever built by man but the reality of the situation is that there is a lot of oil in the Gulf and once the wind and current get it a lot of it is coming ashore, no matter what we do.

UPDATE: This might be interesting. A supertanker with slots cut in the bow for skimming Huge oil-skimming ship makes Virginia stop en route to Gulf of Mexico

UPDATE 2 - I have edited this post for clarity.

K.C.

The Jones Act and Airline Cabotage

2010-06-25T08:19:00.001-04:00

Airbus (Photo from Wikipedia)

From an editorial in the Washington Post The Jones Act ship law has outlived its usefulness

The editorial notes that the Jones Act does not apply to the oil clean up but criticizes the Jones Act more broadly. The article asks:

If FedEx can move cargo across the country in European-made Airbuses, why can't a boat built in, say, Canada, ship wheat from Los Angeles to Honolulu?

This is a bit misleading, U.S. airlines are in fact protected by law from foreign competition, so-called Airline Cabotage. Unlike the maritime industry however, U.S. airlines are not required to use planes built in the U.S, while the Jones act does require U.S. companies engaged in coastwise shipping to use vessel built in U.S. shipyards.

K.C.

Jones Act Fact Sheet – 18 June 2010

2010-06-24T08:09:00.001-04:00

Jones Act Fact Sheet – 18 June 2010

Jones Act Fact Sheet (pdf) From Marad here - Found at Bryant's Maritime Blog NIC – Jones Act has not impeded oil spill response

Background:

Currently 15 foreign-flagged vessels are involved in the largest response to an oil spill in U.S. history. No Jones Act waivers have been granted because none of these vessels have required such a waiver to conduct their operations as part of the response in the Gulf of Mexico. While we have not seen any need to waive the Jones Act as part of this historic response, we continue to prepare for all possible scenarios, and that's why Admiral Allen provided guidance to process necessary waivers as quickly as possible to allow vital spill response activities being undertaken by foreign-flagged vessels to continue without delay should that be necessary. To date, the administration has leveraged assets and skills from a number of foreign countries and international organizations as part of this historic, all-hands-on-deck response.

Summary:.
In no case has the Federal On Scene Coordinator (FOSC) or Unified Area Command (UAC) declined to request assistance or accept offers of assistance of foreign vessels that meet an operational need because the Jones Act was implicated. The Jones Act was passed in 1920. The Jones Act and similar laws governing coastal shipping were passed to encourage development of the American merchant marine for national defense and commercial purposes. U. S. Custom Border Protection (CBP) in consultation with the Maritime Administration (MARAD) administers waivers of the Jones Act in non-emergent cases. A Jones Act waiver was granted during Hurricane Katrina due to the significant disruption in the production and transportation of petroleum and/or refined petroleum products in the region during that emergency and the impact this had on national defense. In anticipation of Jones Act waiver requests the National Incident Commander (NIC) has coordinated closely with relevant agencies to ensure accelerated processing for any waiver requests. To date, no waivers of the Jones Act (or similar federal laws) have been required because none of the foreign vessels currently operating as part of the BP Deepwater Horizon response has required such a waiver.

PROCESS FOR DETERMINING APPLICABILITY OF JONES ACT AND OBTAINING WAIVERS
Generally, the Jones Act requires that all goods transported in coastwise trade between United States ports be carried in United States flagged vessels, constructed in the United States, owned by United States citizens. Additionally, U.S. law, generally, requires it to be crewed by United States citizens and/or permanent residents. The threshold determination is made by CBP in consultation with MARAD. CBP works closely with the UAC and NIC when such issues arise.

A foreign flagged vessel can still conduct certain planned operations for the BP Deepwater Horizon response if the vessel is an oil spill response vessel (OSRV) and meets the requirements of 46 U.S.C. § 55113. In all such cases, based on MARAD’s determination of availability of Jones-Act qualified vessels, the FOSC makes the determinations required by § 55113 on a case by-case basis and coordinates with the State Department in the matter as appropriate. To date, none of the foreign flagged vessels deployed in the BP Deepwater Horizon response have needed to rely upon 46 U.S.C. § 55113.

In anticipation of possible need for deployment of foreign flagged OSRVs, the FOSC, in coordination with other federal agencies, determined on June 16, 2010, pursuant to 46 U.S.C. §55113, that there are an insufficient number of specialized oil skimming vessels in the U.S. to keep pace with the unprecedented levels of oil discharges in the Gulf of Mexico. Based upon this determination, foreign specialized skimming vessels may be deployed to response operations if the foreign country provides the same privileges to U.S. vessels. The use of such vessels under these circumstances would not violate the Jones Act or require a Jones Act waiver.
Alternatively, and for vessels not considered to be OSRVs, a Jones Act waiver request, pursuant to 46 U.S.C. § 501, can be submitted by an interested party, either inside or outside the U.S. government. The FOSC would again coordinate this effort with CBP who would make a recommendation to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in consultation with MARAD. In making that determination, consideration would be given to unique characteristics and capabilities of the foreign flagged vessel compared to what is available in the U.S fleet. Consideration would also be given to the impact of any delay in operations that might be caused by waiting for a United States vessel to arrive on scene or deploy the specific capabilities needed. To date, no Jones Act waivers have been necessaryvbecause foreign flagged vessels involved in the BP Deepwater Horizon response have not been engaged in activities that would require such a waiver.

HISTORY:
For over 200 years, the United States Customs Service, now CBP, has been responsible for enforcing and administering laws and regulations which set forth procedures to control and oversee vessels arriving in, and departing from, U.S. ports and the coastwise transportation of merchandise between U.S. ports. Federal laws protecting U.S. shipping date back to the First Congress in 1789. The coastwise law governing the transportation of merchandise was first established by Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, sponsored by Senator Wesley L. Jonesv(hence its name, the “Jones Act”), which revamped the U.S. shipping laws governing cabotage, shipping mortgages, seamen’s personal injury claims, etc. That statute provided that “[N]o merchandise shall be transported by water, or by land and water, on penalty of forfeiture thereof, between points in the United States, including districts, territories, and possessions thereof embraced within the coastwise laws, either directly or via a foreign port, or for any part of the transportation, in any other vessel than a vessel built in and documented undervthe laws of the United States and owned by persons who are citizens of the United States.”

The intent of the coastwise laws, including the Jones Act, was to promote U.S. shipping interests. The Jones Act (46 U.S.C. § 55102), provides that the transportation of merchandise between U.S. points is reserved for U.S.-built, owned, and documented vessels. Pursuant to section 55102, “a vessel may not provide any part of the transportation of merchandise by water, or by land and water, between points in the United States to which the coastwise laws apply, eithervdirectly or via a foreign port, unless the vessel—(1) is wholly owned by citizens of the United States for purposes of engaging in the coastwise trade; and (2) has been issued a certificate of documentation with a coastwise endorsement under chapter 121 of Title 46 or is exempt from documentation but would otherwise be eligible for such a certificate and endorsement. Consequently, foreign-flag vessels are prohibited from engaging in the coastwise trade—transporting merchandise between U.S. coastwise points. In addition, the same prohibitions apply to U.S.-flag vessels that do not have a coastwise endorsement on theirvdocument, i.e., are not coastwise qualified.

h/t to Towmasters

K.C.

Oil Spill, Foreign Help and the Jones Act

2010-06-23T18:18:00.001-04:00

U. S. Coast Guard photo by Ensign Jason Radcliffe.

From FactCheck.org -Oil Spill, Foreign Help and the Jones Act
Joshua Goldman

Q: Did Obama turn down foreign offers of assistance in cleaning up the Gulf oil spill? Did he refuse to waive Jones Act restrictions on foreign-flag vessels?

A: No to both questions. So far, five offers have been accepted and only one offer has been rejected. Fifteen foreign-flag vessels are working on the cleanup, and none required a waiver.

FULL QUESTION

Is it true that Obama blocked foreign help with cleaning up the Gulf oil spill because he refused to waive the Jones Act, which requires all boats to be American made and crewed by Americans to work in U.S. waters, even though it has been routinely waived for similar events?

FULL ANSWER

We’ve received several questions about the federal government’s response to the oil spill. This one claims that a provision of the Merchant Marine Act, called the Jones Act, has prohibited foreign vessels from entering U.S. waters and assisting in the cleanup.

The full post is at FactCheck.org here

K.C.

Waiving the Jones Act - Sending a message or making a buck?

2010-06-22T10:29:00.008-04:00

U.S. Merchant Marine Poster WW II

Oil is spewing into the Gulf at the rate of 60,000 bbl/day, what is that? If you are Florida Senator George LeMieux, Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison or John Cornyn of Texas it is a perfect opportunity to weaken the Jones Act. The story is here Gulf coast senators introduce bill to allow foreign ships to help with BP oil spill clean-up.

The story explains that the Jones Act does not apply to the clean-up outside three miles where the foreign ships would be used, but they want to waiver the law anyway.

Still, Hutchison said in a radio interview Monday that there was no reason why the U.S. should not be as open as possible to foreign aid.

Just in case I suppose.

The argument that maritime labor was behind the opposition against a blanket waiver ran out of steam. Even Fox New has acknowledged this argument makes no sense:

Some critics have suggested that Obama is protecting the pocketbooks of his union allies by keeping foreign vessels at bay. But several Jones Act experts told me that makes little sense because unions have minimal influence in the Gulf. Foreign competition, therefore, would do little to hurt their bottom line.

They now argue that the Jones Act must be wavered "for the sole purpose of sending a message to our allies". Does anyone else smell a rat?

Here is The Right's Latest Faux Obama Outrage

Shipping companies that rely on foreign vessels have long hoped to amend the act so that they can compete domestically without paying US taxes or complying with domestic labor, environmental, or safety regulations. (Many of these, such as the Virginia-based Liberian International Ship and Corporate Registry, are American companies.) Firms that would prefer to save money by using foreign-registered ships have also griped about the Jones Act. In the mid-1990s, a group of such interests calling itself the "Jones Act Reform Coalition" tried—without success—to weaken the law.

The Mother Jones article warns of:

a bunch of leaky Liberian-flagged boats staffed with Somali teenagers earning slave wages.

That might be a little over the top but the idea the idea that Gulf State senators want to waiver the Jones Act just to "send a message" is nonsense. This fight is about money, not cleaning up oil.

K.C.

Photo of Leader Class PCTC

2010-06-21T21:14:00.006-04:00

Leader Class (photo by Towmaster)

A post to go with the photo - I put up the photo because I don't want the WSJ cow pie at the top anymore.

What to call it? I was coming around Europa Point one night to pick up the Port of Gibraltar pilot when the pilot called and asked, "What kind of vessel are you?

This question sometimes requires a little thought because the best answer depends upon who is asking. The pilot was outbound on the pilot boat and wanted to be able pick us out of the crowd. Usually the most commonly understood answer is "car ship" or "car carrier".

Technicality the answer is RO/RO (Roll On / Roll Off), more specifically it is a PCTC (Pure Car Truck Carrier). The ABS (American Bureau of Shipping) classification is "Vehicle Carrier". I have never used this term except on paperwork.

I told the pilot we were a car carrier, I am trying to pick the pilot boat out of the lights of the anchored ships but I'm thinking, how hard can it be to see this thing, what ever you call it?

K.C.

The Wall Street Journal and the Jones Act

2010-06-19T08:50:00.004-04:00

A cow pie (Photo from Wikipedia

From the Wall Street Journal -The President Does A Jones Act

Blame it on the protectionist Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also called the Jones Act, that requires ships working in U.S. waters to be built, operated and owned by Americans.

This is pure poppycock of course. Non-Jones Act ships can work in U.S. waters. What they can not do is load cargo in one U.S. port and discharge it in another. U.S. airlines enjoy the same protection.

Building specialized clean-up vessels in the U.S. is too expensive because of high union labor costs, and unions don't want ships built with foreign labor to be used in U.S. waters

This is pure nonsense as well. Every major port in the United States is filled with ships built with foreign labor.

I wonder what percent of the U.S. vessels currently working on the oil spill are union manned? My guess is that the number is close to zero.

As for the nonsense about "accepting help" from foreign countries, these are not good Samaritan acts, they expect to get paid. No doubt American companies are trying to push their company equipment and vessels to the forefront as well.

K.C.

The Jones Act and the Media

2010-06-17T08:09:00.006-04:00

Image from NOAA
Here is an article: Jones Act complicates messy situation for Obama - about the oil spill and the Jones Act which I think is more or less accurate. It is from Mr. Bluey, a contributing editor to Human Events, is director of the Center for Media & Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation.

On the other hand I believe that this article from The Christian Science Monitor, which I have until now considered to be a trustworthy source, is incorrect. Jones Act: Does Gulf oil spill cleanup need more foreign boats?

The CSM article has this incorrect information in the header.

The Jones Act prevents foreign skimmers and tankers from helping with the Gulf oil spill cleanup.

The Heritage Foundation article on the other had says this:

Because the law only covers a three-mile limit from the U.S. coast, foreign ships do not have to get a waiver to work near the site of the spill or other areas in need of skimming.

Not sure if that is exactly correct but my understanding is that the Jones act does not prevent oil being transported from the Gulf of Mexico to a U.S. Port.

I think that the source of the misinformation are sources which oppose the Jones Act for other reasons and are using the BP Deepwater Oil Spill as an opportunity to push forward their agenda. An example is (From the Heritage Foundation article)

Newly elected Rep. Charles Djou (R-Hawaii), who raised the issue during his recent campaign, vowed to introduce legislation exempting Hawaii from the Jones Act because it has reportedly resulted in higher costs for goods.

K.C.

Deepwater's; - Cabotage and the GOM

The Jones Act and The BP Oil Spill part 2

2010-06-15T17:22:00.008-04:00

Fox New continues with it's nonsense regarding the Jones Act and the BP Deepwater Oil Spill.

Fox & Friends ignores international aid in attacking Obama over oil spill response

The fact is that, at present, 15 foreign flagged non-Jones Act vessels are in the Gulf responding to the spill and none required Jones Act waivers.

Here is a link to an AIS in the area. When I checked all the vessels in the area are foreign flagged.

Perhaps responding to the blather- Admiral Allen provides Jones Act waiver guidance

Here is 46 USC 55113 - Use of foreign documented oil spill response vessels

gcaptain forum "Foreign vessels on GOM clean up"

From LA Times, Foreign flagging of offshore rigs skirts U.S. safety rules. Under International law, offshore oil rigs like the Deepwater Horizon are treated as ships, and companies are allowed to "register" them in unlikely places such as the Marshall Islands, Panama and Liberia — reducing the U.S. government's role in inspecting and enforcing safety and other standards.

K.C

Some Links, -The Oil Spill, O-Rings, Politics, Working With Rocket Fuel

2010-06-15T09:01:00.001-04:00

Cut and Paste - Photo from Wikipedia

Odds and ends:

Details of possible problems with procedures - Letter from Congress to BP Deepwater Horizon cost $500,000 a day to operate.

Real Time Mapping BP Oil Spill Response Vessels from gcaptain

Panbo has a seven day repair done in half a day - Gizmo fixed, thanks to a crack mechanic/technician

When I read the news at home I never, ever think: "I wonder what the chief thinks about this?" Deepwater Writing explains why in Politics - and reveals we share an interest in RO/RO.

Who doesn't love a story that includes solid rocket fuel ?

Boats with electrical problems can send out stray currents into the water which causes nearby boats to have problems as well. Who knew? Bill Bishop at The Marine Installer's Rant did - The yacht club, rockets, and the electron police, The quest for the electrically perfect marina basin.

K.C.

In U.S. No Tolerance for Oil Spills

2010-06-13T20:52:00.003-04:00

Handcuffs - Photo from Wikipedia
Nobody is claiming that BP deliberately caused the explosion on the Deepwater horizon and although there are suspicions that negligence may have been the cause it has yet to be proven. That isn't stopping some from claiming crimes have been committed. Here is a typical example, this one is from the site Truthout:

evidence has emerged that appears to show BP knowingly cut corners on maintenance and safety on Deepwater Horizon's operations, which, according to blogger bmaz, who writes about legal issues at Emptywheel, could amount to criminal violations of the Clean Water Act. Additionally, because people were killed, BP and company officials could also face prosecution for negligent and reckless homicide.

This has implications for mariners, particularly if you work on tankers

From Watchkeeper: Dark lessons from the Gulf of Mexico

Firstly, it has illustrated once again, as if there was any doubt after the reaction to even small amounts of pollution, that the intolerance of such spills is absolute.
....... a US political class and media which seem intent on criminalizing anyone who, even inadvertently, harms the marine environment.

And this:

in US waters, the whole concept of an “accident” is no longer valid, with the whole legal system in that country determined that any failure of judgement, or somebody making a technical decision which, in hindsight turns out to be wrong, must be subject to criminal sanctions.

If you are involved in an accident and spill oil you may not be able to count on the presumption of innocence.

K.C.

The Jones Act and BP Deepwater Spill

2010-06-12T15:46:00.028-04:00

On Fox and Friends the claim was made the Jones Act is hindering the cleanup of the BP Deepwater oil spill because foreign vessel which could be used in the cleanup are not allowed to assist .

A scene is shown of some vessel apparently idle because of the Jones Act.

It's all bogus- here is a report from Media Matters.

Anyone making this claim should either supply specifics, what is the name or names of any vessel that can assist but has been prohibited or - how about a nice cup of coffee?

Here is a Journal of Commerce article: Jones Act Supporters Deny Opposing Oil Spill Waivers

Update: I think it would be difficult to make it more clear then this.

From: SF Gate

In an official statement by the Unified Command's Lt. Erik Halvorson, Chief, Joint Information Center of the Unified Area Command said:

I am not aware of any instance in which needed foreign ships or technology have not been accepted due to the Jones Act. The Jones Act is not preventing us from getting the technology that we need.

K.C.

Live Vessel Tracking Deepwater Gulf of Mexico

2010-06-11T10:08:00.003-04:00

Deepwater Horizon on fire - USCG Photo

All links below are from DeepwaterBP Spill This is by far the best site I've found so far.
Found at The Oil Drum

Live Vessel Tracking . Gulf of Mexico - Deepwater position is:

28° 44′ 12.01″ N, 88° 23′ 13.78″ W
28.73667, -88.38716

NOAA oil spill trajectory forecasts

Gulf Oil Spill Tracker

Protest from experts show drilling moratorium based on politics, not science: An editorial

K.C.

Hawsepipe or Academy Who is the Best?

2010-06-10T20:47:00.007-04:00

Image from American Merchant Marine at War, www.usmm.org

Towmasters has an interesting post (and comments) Hawsepipers: Why They’re Needed Now More Than Ever.

I agree with towmaster: It is vital that the path to a license remain reasonably achievable for qualified unlicensed mariners. The system should however be able to block the worse of the worse.

My observations are, the mates I get from the hawsepipe are both the best, and the worse. Of the best mates a disproportional large percentage of them came up though the hawepipe. On the other hand, the very worse officers I've had, almost all of them were haswepipers. Many of the mates from the academy fall in the middle range, neither outstanding nor incompetent.

Another observation, of the mates from the academies I sailed with, the ones who had good "sea sense", and were competent both in the wheel house and on deck, most had some experience in the towing industry. Of the hawsepipers, the worse of the worse, all had deep-sea backgrounds and had obtained licenses relatively late in their careers.

Bottom line, attitude is more important then background. Good judgment, experience and a willingness to work hard are what makes a good mate.

K.C.

View From the Office - Upbound Savannah River

2010-06-07T22:18:00.001-04:00

Upbound on the Savannah River at Sunset - Photo by KC (click to enlarge)
South Carolina to stbd and Georgia to port as we are upbound for a rare "overnight" in Savannah. Photo was taken March 2010.

K.C.

gcaptain, anchorman and The Atlantic Magazine

2010-06-06T11:16:00.006-04:00

Deepwater Horizon on fire - USCG Photo
So, I'm poking around on the intertubes searching using "James Reason" (author of "Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents") and "Deepwater Horizon" and I stumble upon this on-line article from The Atlantic: No Easy Villains May Mean no Easy Oil.. The author Lisa Margonelli has been lurking on the gcaptain forum. From the article:

Over the past week I've been lurking in the forums of gcaptain.com, a virtual hangout for offshore drilling boat types. Gcaptain may have had the first news of the Deepwater Horizon fire when a nearby boat captain reported it ten minutes after it happened, kicking off a long thread of discussion about possible causes and meanings.

It's anchorman's thread - Bob Couttie is mentioned as well.

Also:

Towmasters has an interesting post about the accident and a no knife policy

Knives!? We Don’t Need No Stinking Knives!

There may be an insight there that the company believed that the crew could be trusted with this complex and expensive drilling operation but not trusted to carry a knife.

Here is my post that I started but didn't finish:

New York Times article - In Gulf, It Was Unclear Who Was in Charge of Oil Rig.

The article quotes Tad W. Patzek: “It’s a very complex operation in which the human element has not been aligned with the complexity of the system,”

K.C.

From The Oil Drum; Lessons Left Unlearnt From 2003 Gulf of Mexico Near-Spill

Heavy weather encounter - The Satori

2010-02-12T08:42:00.006-05:00

A U.S. Coast Guard HH-3F Pelican

In my post Parametric Rolling of a Car Carrier in Head Sea. I wrote that hidden flaws, are more likely to be revealed in heavy weather. An example is the car ship Figaro - Inadvertent Release of CO 2 - in that case heavy weather was the trigger that casued the unintended release of CO2.

Another, less obvious example is the case of the Sailing vessel Satori which was the sailing vessel in both the book and movie The Perfect Storm.

The Satori is:

a short masted, heavy displacement rig. She weighs 11 tons and is designed for heavy seas. Eleven stays keep the forty foot mast secure. When the boat was built Ray requested heavy rigging to be certain that Satori could handle more severe storms.

When the owner and captain of the Satori, Ray Leonard, hove to in 40 kt winds and 30 ft seas he felt confident that his vessel was well within its limits but was unexpectedly forced to abandon his vessel. Leonard's confidence in his vessel was not misplaced, the Satori was later recovered with little damage. The path of failure was not the vessel but the crew: From the story: He (the captain) was unable to convince the crew that this motion was uncomfortable but not dangerous.

This second knockdown put the crew into a heightened state of panic. They began to insist that they call the Coast Guard for a rescue. Karen believed that the boat was going to break up any minute. The captain explained that there was no need for a rescue and that Satori had been through this before and would ride out this storm. At this point, Susan and Karen were not listening and kept insisting that they wanted to call. Ray agreed to let them call,

The Coast Guard required Capt Leonard to abandon his vessel and sent a HH-3F helicopter from Elizabeth City, N.C. Rescue swimmer Dave Moore went into the 30 ft seas and pulled the captain and two crew out of the water.

It is not only the vessel that encounters heavy weather, it is the vessel, crew and cargo. Operating vessels, and their crews, near limits increases risks and chances of failure, - but the path of failure may not be the one expected.

K.C.
__________________________________________
The son of Ray Leonard, posted a rebuttal to the book The Perfect Storm.

LORAN-C Shut down - Not Prudent Seamanship

2010-02-11T17:55:00.006-05:00

Towmasters has a good post regarding the shutdown of Loran C. - Lots of Eggs, One Basket Loran-C Signal Shut Down.

Various safety organizations have pounded into mariner's heads now for years various versions of the message "Safety First". Most senior mariners by now have internalized safety concepts such as the error chain - in my post Error Chains and Swiss Cheese I wrote that identifying weak points in safety systems was basic seamanship.

So, the Coast Guard is shutting down Loran C and we are now going to depend entirely upon GPS, a system that relies upon satellites spinning around in outer space? Complex systems fail in unexpected ways. A big whiskey tango foxtrot on that one.

K.C.

Pirates Favor Unprepared Ships

2010-02-10T12:48:00.004-05:00

The basic philosophy of ship security is (from USCG)

“hardening” merchant shipping targets. Even if such tactics cannot entirely prevent pirate attacks, they may prolong the time it takes for pirate groups operating from small craft to gain control of a target vessel long enough for naval or law enforcement response assets in the area to successfully intervene.

In the past when I explain this concept to crews I would sometimes get remarks along the lines of fighting off armed attackers with fire hoses was silly. Well there should no longer be any doubt.

From Strategy Page The article is Pirates Feast On Gamblers

February 3, 2010: An analysis of the ships captured by Somali pirates last year found that most of them had ignored recommended security measures, while passing through the Gulf of Aden, or elsewhere along the Somali coast. About a quarter of the merchant ships moving through this danger zone just take their chances. The odds aren't bad. About one in 500 ships passing through the area are captured by pirates. But closer to one in a hundred are attacked or threatened. The pirates have learned to seek out the unprepared merchant ships, knowing that these will be easier to get aboard and capture. Thus these ships that are just playing the percentages, have a higher risk (closer to one in 200) or being captured.

Found at: Pirate Watch: Tumbling dice at The Best Defense - Tom Rick's blog at Foreign Policy - worth a read if your involved in piracy defense

Piracy defense is like the joke about the two hikers encountering a bear, the punchline is; I don''t have to outrun the bear, I have to outrun you.(you being the unprepared ship in this case)

K.C

Ice and Sail Craft

2010-02-09T08:03:00.004-05:00

I thought Tugster's two posts about ice boats were interesting: Approaches to Ice and Ice and Unusual Sail

To me, the ice boats seem literally fantastic, more closely resembling creatures from a science fiction movie then boats. However the ice boats are shaped not by fantasy but by the requirements of transferring the power of the wind into ( vessel, vehicle?) craft motion.

Anyway, I still had ice boats on my mind when I checked out Innovations in America’s Cup Sailing at Old Salt Blog and I was struck by how closely the two resembled each other, the ice boats and the racing craft.

In both cases the problem being solved is the same, moving at high speed on the surface of the water, in one case frozen and in the other case not.

K.C.