Container ship hits chemical tanker just off Yorkshire coast

[jojojo]

Two huge ships have collided in the North Sea not far off the Yorkshire coast. Reports of fires on both vessels. It's believed the oil tanker was at anchor.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cgq1pwjlqq2t

Rescue services deployed.

 

[G3079]

Proper fleet of tugs, supply vessels and rescue ships (the teal triangles) currently swarming the area:

Position in Marinetraffic: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:0.407/centery:53.694/zoom:12

The crew of the US-flagged tanker has all crew accounted for, the Portuguese-flagged container ship Solong is missing one person according to this video:

 

[T00lsh3d]

fecks sake, there goes my seaside swimming for the year. cnuts

 

[Ekkie Thump]

Telegraph reporting that an overheard audio recording from Humber Coastguard said that the Stenna Immaculate was carrying aviation fuel. At capacity it can carry 46,000 cubic metres or 12 million gallons.

 

[jojojo]

fecks sake, there goes my seaside swimming for the year. cnuts

Looks like you may need to try not breathing for the next day or so.

It's a shocking event. The tracking footage looks like there was no evasive action by the container ship even though it should have been aware of the oil tanker for miles. Equipment failure maybe?

Casualties are starting to come ashore. Lots of rescue vessels in the area, though how close to the ships they can get and how safe the rescue teams themselves are isn't obvious.

 

[Abizzz]

So a cargo ship drove into a parked tanker. The tanker's owner named that ship "Immaculate".

They share the blame equally in my opinion. Driving without looking where you're going is tempting fate, but so is calling a ship Immaculate.

 

[jojojo]

So a cargo ship drove into a parked tanker. The tanker's owner named that ship "Immaculate".

They share the blame equally in my opinion. Driving without looking where you're going is tempting fate, but so is calling a ship Immaculate.

Yep, should have called it the Stenna-Hoping Not To Get Hit. Much safer.

 

[jojojo]

The operators of the tanker say:
“A fire occurred as a result of the allision, and fuel was reported released. The Stena Immaculate crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard. All Crowley mariners are safe and fully accounted for.”

An allision apparently means a moving ship hit a stationary object, like a pier or a ship at anchor. So I'm guessing that's the opening paragraph in their insurance claim.

BBC say that the Stena owners have confirmed that it was carrying Jet fuel.

They also say that they believe the fuel belongs to the US government and was heading to US airbases in the UK.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Looks like you may need to try not breathing for the next day or so.

It's a shocking event. The tracking footage looks like there was no evasive action by the container ship even though it should have been aware of the oil tanker for miles. Equipment failure maybe?

Casualties are starting to come ashore. Lots of rescue vessels in the area, though how close to the ships they can get and how safe the rescue teams themselves are isn't obvious.

And in daylight?

 

[Wilt]

The loss of wildlife worries me most, the Yorkshire East coast is home to an abundance of wildlife. Total disaster.

 

[jojojo]

The cargo ship had 15 containers of Sodium Cyanide on board. Not known yet if any caught fire or if any of those containers was lost overboard. Incidentally that info comes from Lloyds List. Solong's owners have said nothing so far.

The oil tanker, according to its owners, has had multiple explosions and is leaking jet fuel.

Coastguard are coordinating the pollution control work.

Both crews are now on shore. One of the casualties is in hospital, the rest are ok.

Incidentally if anyone wants to hear the coastguard responding to the emergency:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cgq1pwjlqq2t?post=asset:0766b06b-66e5-46ee-bc2c-dd84be96bda8#post
I reckon you'd want him on your team if you were in trouble.

 

[TwoSheds]

Is it possible it's some sort of terrorism/sabotage? Be interesting to hear the theories that come out and good luck to all those who are working to contain things in the mean time.

 

[Snowjoe]

Incidentally that info comes from Lloyds List.

I was in the London office today and our Hull underwriters are sweating that’s for sure

 

[T00lsh3d]

I was in the London office today and our Hull underwriters are sweating that’s for sure

Glad they’re fully embracing the local culture, that’s very committed

 

[NotChatGPT]

The operators of the tanker say:
“A fire occurred as a result of the allision, and fuel was reported released. The Stena Immaculate crew abandoned the vessel following multiple explosions onboard. All Crowley mariners are safe and fully accounted for.”

An allision apparently means a moving ship hit a stationary object, like a pier or a ship at anchor. So I'm guessing that's the opening paragraph in their insurance claim.

BBC say that the Stena owners have confirmed that it was carrying Jet fuel.

They also say that they believe the fuel belongs to the US government and was heading to US airbases in the UK.

Will be interesting to read more information about this one. As far as i understand, there was no attempt to signal the tanker (or anyone else for that matter) so it's unlikely they've had any issues onboard that would prevent them from making heading changes. Surely they can't be that incompetent that they've left the bridge unmanned for ages in such a busy area aither.

 

[jojojo]

The reports have now been updated. According to the HM Coastguard service, one crew member from the Solong is still missing. The search for them has now been called off.

36 others were rescued and one of those was taken to hospital.

 

[Jippy]

I grew up a couple of miles away from the Humber and it's grim to think about what this could do to the nature reserves around there, like Spurn Point.

 

[Ekkie Thump]

One saving grace might be that aviation fuel is less hazardous to the environment than other, heavier oils. Apparently it tends to dissipate and evaporate quickly in open water settings.

 

[TwoSheds]

One saving grace might be that aviation fuel is less hazardous to the environment than other, heavier oils. Apparently it tends to dissipate and evaporate quickly in open water settings.

Much quicker than crude maybe but it won't be quick to evaporate, particularly in current fairly low temperatures. It's basically fancy kerosene still so it's not super volatile. Bacteria breaking it down will be a big part of the cleanup I would imagine.

 

[G3079]

BBC with a real 'quality' interview:

Captain Nigel Bassett tells BBC News that the investigation into this morning's collision will be looking at whether it was caused by machinery or personnel.

"Today, something has failed," he says.

Bassett explains that ships are designed to resist impact. The vessels of today are "double skinned", he explains, meaning there are two layers between the hull and the cargo.

"It is designed to withstand the rupture of the cargo space" but today both the internal and external hull appear to have been perforated, he adds.

The inquires into the incident should leave "no doubt" as to what happened, Bassett says.

If by quality you mean a ridiculous "the front fell off" type of idiotic utterances.
Yeah thanks mate, never would have gotten the idea that ships driving into each other wasn't standard procedure and that something had gone wrong. The statement about double hulls is mindbogglingly dumb - no ship, double hull or not, is built to withstand the force of getting T-boned by another large ship at sixteen knots. If that happens you can only hope that the compartmentalisation is good enough that the ship keeps floating, but nothing is going to stop an impact with that amount of force behind it to penetrate both hulls. And yes, an investigation should clear up what happened. That's kinda the point of doing one.

At least so far it seems that neither ship is sinking. In fact the fires seem to be put out and currently it seems like the Stena Immaculate has been boarded and the ship's pumps are working rapidly to pump out all the water the firefighting vessels sprayed aboard it:

That leaves good hope that at least not all of their cargo and their own fuel spills into the sea. The cargo being Jet-A fuel is a mixed blessing - it is lighter than crude oil or ship diesel and does not tend to flake and sink in the water column from what I read, making it easier to contain and clean up, and plenty of it might have burned off already, but it is also considered more toxic. As for the sodium cyanide, no idea what the results of that would be if it got into the sea.

I would not at all be surprised if the investigation ended up with the cause being the watch officer on deck being negligent in his duties. It would be far from the first time that an accident was the result of a watchman having fallen asleep, being on the phone with their family or watching a video, or any other kind of being distracted and not having their eyes where they should be: on the radar and on the horizon.

 

[WPMUFC]

 

[NotChatGPT]

BBC with a real 'quality' interview:

If by quality you mean a ridiculous "the front fell off" type of idiotic utterances.
Yeah thanks mate, never would have gotten the idea that ships driving into each other wasn't standard procedure and that something had gone wrong. The statement about double hulls is mindbogglingly dumb - no ship, double hull or not, is built to withstand the force of getting T-boned by another large ship at sixteen knots. If that happens you can only hope that the compartmentalisation is good enough that the ship keeps floating, but nothing is going to stop an impact with that amount of force behind it to penetrate both hulls. And yes, an investigation should clear up what happened. That's kinda the point of doing one.

At least so far it seems that neither ship is sinking. In fact the fires seem to be put out and currently it seems like the Stena Immaculate has been boarded and the ship's pumps are working rapidly to pump out all the water the firefighting vessels sprayed aboard it:

That leaves good hope that at least not all of their cargo and their own fuel spills into the sea. The cargo being Jet-A fuel is a mixed blessing - it is lighter than crude oil or ship diesel and does not tend to flake and sink in the water column from what I read, making it easier to contain and clean up, and plenty of it might have burned off already, but it is also considered more toxic. As for the sodium cyanide, no idea what the results of that would be if it got into the sea.

I would not at all be surprised if the investigation ended up with the cause being the watch officer on deck being negligent in his duties. It would be far from the first time that an accident was the result of a watchman having fallen asleep, being on the phone with their family or watching a video, or any other kind of being distracted and not having their eyes where they should be: on the radar and on the horizon.

Fairly impressive that it's still floating. Different compartments is one thing, but load strength is another. Being rammed from the side like that can easily result in disaster where the vessel hull is no longer strong enough to maintain the load and then it goes to shits fairly quickly.

 

[jojojo]

According to the owners of the Solong - the cargo ship wasn't carrying Sodium Cyanide. Which is good news. I've not heard what they were carrying.

It's one less thing for the salvage teams and the people managing the cleanup to have to deal with though.

 

[G3079]

They are currently assuming that the Solong will sink as it keeps burning. They can either let it burn and likely watch it sink from the damage it suffers from the heat, or keep trying to estinguish the fire and watch it sink from the flooding all that quenching water would deliver unto her.

They have currently attached the Solong to a towing ship, but it is unclear if they can maybe drag it into the shallows where they can beach the ship, erect an environmental barrier around it and keep trying to extinguish the fire.

 

[Ekkie Thump]

Do we know if the Immaculate will stay afloat?

 

[G3079]

Do we know if the Immaculate will stay afloat?

Currently it looks like that will not be an issue. The fire is reportedly out and the compartments seem to hold, so there should be nothing stopping them from dragging the ship into harbour for evaluation if it should be repaired or scrapped.

 

[Santos J]

Man arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter over crash​

A 59-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the collision yesterday.

Humberside Police launched a criminal investigation and the senior investigating officer Detective Chief Superintendent Craig Nicholson has issued this statement: "Extensive work has already been carried out, and we are working closely with our partners to understand what happened, and to provide support to all of those affected.

"Following enquiries undertaken by my team, we have arrested a 59-year-old man on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the collision, this follows the conclusion of search operations by HM Coastguard for the missing crew member of the Solong."

The man arrested remains in custody.

 

[G3079]

The arrested man is reported to be the captain of the Solong. Makes sense as no matter who had the watch at the time, ultimately he is responsible for everything that happens on his ship. Doubly so if it was actually him that had the watch at the time, which they should be able to figure out rather quickly.

They have also revised their estimate and now say that the Solong is not likely to sink anymore. Looking at the images of her I find that remarkable, burnt out and still smouldering as she is. Kudos to the Romanian shipyard that built her, she's a solid ship.

 

[Semper Fudge]

The arrested man is reported to be the captain of the Solong. Makes sense as no matter who had the watch at the time, ultimately he is responsible for everything that happens on his ship. Doubly so if it was actually him that had the watch at the time, which they should be able to figure out rather quickly.

They have also revised their estimate and now say that the Solong is not likely to sink anymore. Looking at the images of her I find that remarkable, burnt out and still smouldering as she is. Kudos to the Romanian shipyard that built her, she's a solid ship.

Are you in love?

 

[G3079]

Are you in love?

Ships are female, don't blame me for that tradition, that has been a thing long before I was even born. Nothing to do with being in love.
But for the record, no, I generally don't find any sort of tech attractive.

I can however admire excellent engineering. And it will never not amaze me to see extensive damage like this and and it still won't sink: