Post by Graham on Jul 24, 2013 10:32:04 GMT
I was just looking at the sequence of photos showing the break up and loss of the container ship MOL Comfort, which occured in the Arabian Gulf in June this year (see link below) and it occurred to me that possibly many cruising members might not be fully aware of the hazards of colliding with floating or semi submerged containers
gcaptain.com/mol-comfort-incident-photos/
This might seem an extreme case, but not so when you consider how many large container ships have been lost in recent years.
The loss of containers overside from merchant vessels is not a common occurence, but does happen more often than you would imagine. The loss of a container vessel does get some publicity, but the loss of containers doesn't normally hit the headlines.
Containers usually have quite good door seals, and possibly small ventilation holes, and consequently float around for quite a while. When they get semi waterlogged they float very low in the water or just below the surface, depending on the buoyancy of their contents. They are quite large, either 20ft, 40ft or 45ft long and in their dry state can weigh up to 28 tonnes. As you can imagine, if you hit one, they can cause severe damage to a yacht.
So keep your eyes peeled out there, and if you sight one, report it to the coastguard immediately.
Graham
gcaptain.com/mol-comfort-incident-photos/
This might seem an extreme case, but not so when you consider how many large container ships have been lost in recent years.
The loss of containers overside from merchant vessels is not a common occurence, but does happen more often than you would imagine. The loss of a container vessel does get some publicity, but the loss of containers doesn't normally hit the headlines.
Containers usually have quite good door seals, and possibly small ventilation holes, and consequently float around for quite a while. When they get semi waterlogged they float very low in the water or just below the surface, depending on the buoyancy of their contents. They are quite large, either 20ft, 40ft or 45ft long and in their dry state can weigh up to 28 tonnes. As you can imagine, if you hit one, they can cause severe damage to a yacht.
So keep your eyes peeled out there, and if you sight one, report it to the coastguard immediately.
Graham
