Quite annoying when this happens to you...

[bmot]

You're just easily making your way over the waves...





When suddenly you hear a hard crack...


Part 1

Part 2



 
http://gcaptain.com/mol-box-ship-suffers-broken-back-sinks-off-yeme/

[Grant Lamontagne]

That's what I do for a living.  She looks like she was overloaded. 

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

[bmot]

Wrongly loaded, at least, maybe.


This is what the website I got if from says about it:

From a naval architecture standpoint, this is a puzzling situation.  Ships are designed to handle long period and large waves that crest on the bow and stern and have a trough amidships. This creates a sagging situation that puts extreme tension on the keel and compression at deck level. The opposite, “hogging” situation occurs when the crest of the wave moves to the center of the ship and the trough of the waves are at bow and stern.The repeat flexing of the ship in these perfectly timed waves is likely what caused the loss of this vessel.  In the photo above, a perfect example of hogging is shown, where the bow and the stern are both lying in the troughs of two waves.
It should not have happened however.  Ships are built to handle this situation and engineering rules are followed to ensure the transverse “section modulus” of the vessel is sufficient to handle these extreme stresses imposed by nature.  There are other possibilities however…
The loading of the containers on board may have exacerbated the situation.  Although the loading of the containers appears even in the photo, the weight distribution of the containers may not have been even.  Had heavier containers been loaded on the bow and stern and lighter ones in the center of the ship, the vessel may have been placed in a hogging situation before she even set sail.  It’s speculation of course to say one way or another, but assuming that she met class requirements, it’s one possible explanation for what happened.

[Grant Lamontagne]

It's hard to load evenly since shippers often misstate the weights of cargo.  It shouldn't have happened, but it did and it does happen from time to time, obviously.

Def

Sent from a digital multitool

[bmot]

True that, in the half year I spent at maritime academy, I learned a small bit of loading, it's certainly hard enough.


I'm glad no one was hurt in this accident, though.

[theonew]

Arrrrgggg, that is giving me some serious smurfing agita. Every month my business associate and I argue about the proper inventory level to maintain, with me always arguing in favor of keeping inventory at a lean level and him saying we need to keep more inventory on hand since a container from Vietnam and China takes so long to get here. And I then say that that is built into my analysis and he says, "Yeah but what if the container on order goes down in the ocean." With me saying, "Yeah but what's the likelihood of that.

[THE_LONGBOW]

I lived on Kodiak Island in Alaska and most of all the supplies for every one on the island came in on a large ship. Some times supplies would run short as the ship would be late. People depend on these ships.

Grant any idea how many containers were on the ship? I'd guess about a 1000.

[bmot]

I lived on Kodiak Island in Alaska and most of all the supplies for every one on the island came in on a large ship. Some times supplies would run short as the ship would be late. People depend on these ships.

Grant any idea how many containers were on the ship? I'd guess about a 1000.

About 4,500 standard container units. The ship is big enough for 8000 or so.

[derekmac]

Grant any idea how many containers were on the ship? I'd guess about a 1000.

"The MV MOL Comfort, an 8,000 TEU-type containership cracked in half about 200 miles from the Yemeni coast at about 12’30″N 60′E while enroute from Singapore to Jeddah with a load of 7,041 TEUs"

That's crazy!  I wonder what the value of the cargo would be on that? 

The site says that it hasn't sunk, but both sections are still afloat and being monitored.

[nuphoria]

Those things scare the bejeesus out of me even when they aren't falling apart and sinking!

[Grant Lamontagne]

TEU stands for Twenty foot Equivalent Unit since containerization is based on twenty foot containers for the most part. There are some oddball sizes, but a standard container is twenty feet long.  Due to costs, most containers nowadays are 40 feet and therefore are considered 2 TEU, so a ship with 8,000 TEU will never carry anywhere near 8,000.  Usually it'll be 5,000 or less as they never usually operate at full capacity and the majority of containers will be 40' ones.

I often encounter heavy weather ships- these are ships that have been pounded by waves in the North Atlantic, a very dangerous place to be at certain times of the year.  I've seen containers ripped from the deck, burst from pressure and superstructures and walkways smashed as if they were tin foil.  On one ship we found the brackets that hold containers to the deck were torn.  These brackets are rated for 50 tonnes each, and all four were ripped when a wave hit the container they were holding.  The container was long gone, but it goes to show you what kind of pressure you are dealing with when you have more than enough force to instantly tear 200 metric tonnes of restraints and carry the container off with no issues.

I think most people would also be surprised to see just how flexible ships are.  If they weren't they'd snap more often than they do.  It was amazing to me when I found out just how much they flex, kind of like when you are seated over the wing on a plane the first time and you watch it flex and bounce!

Def

Sent from the place I sent it from

[bmot]

TEU stands for Twenty foot Equivalent Unit since containerization is based on twenty foot containers for the most part. There are some oddball sizes, but a standard container is twenty feet long.  Due to costs, most containers nowadays are 40 feet and therefore are considered 2 TEU, so a ship with 8,000 TEU will never carry anywhere near 8,000.  Usually it'll be 5,000 or less as they never usually operate at full capacity and the majority of containers will be 40' ones.

I often encounter heavy weather ships- these are ships that have been pounded by waves in the North Atlantic, a very dangerous place to be at certain times of the year.  I've seen containers ripped from the deck, burst from pressure and superstructures and walkways smashed as if they were tin foil.  On one ship we found the brackets that hold containers to the deck were torn.  These brackets are rated for 50 tonnes each, and all four were ripped when a wave hit the container they were holding.  The container was long gone, but it goes to show you what kind of pressure you are dealing with when you have more than enough force to instantly tear 200 metric tonnes of restraints and carry the container off with no issues.

I think most people would also be surprised to see just how flexible ships are.  If they weren't they'd snap more often than they do.  It was amazing to me when I found out just how much they flex, kind of like when you are seated over the wing on a plane the first time and you watch it flex and bounce!

Def

Sent from the place I sent it from

[Grant Lamontagne]

I've seen that one, and many others.  It makes me very glad that I only go on those when they are safely tied to dry land!

Def

Sent from the place I sent it from

[bmot]

So, this has to do with your job, right, Boss?

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yup, that is my job. Investigating the cause of things like that, assessing the level of damages (physical and financial, to both ship and cargo) and occasionally trying to recoup the losses resulting from such incidents.  Also consulting on how to avoid problems like this.

Def

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[derekmac]

Also consulting on how to avoid problems like this.

Def

Sent from the place I sent it from

Duct tape and super glue!

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