MOL Comfort reflections: Ships are getting cheaper in more ways than one
VOCIFEROUS, but seemingly informed opinion, on the state of shipbuilding came after the MOL Comfort disaster off Yemen from an "expert" writing to Vancouver's Ship & Bunker.
"Sections are prefabricated using plate steel cut and welded by robots and assembled like a huge Lego set. In the quest for faster, more fuel efficient vessels, plate steel gets thinner and thinner, and the joints and frames get less and less substantial," he said, referring to the 8,000-TEU MOL Comfort that split in two on June 27 in heavy monsoon seas.
"It is tempting to imagine that the cause lies with the simple need for lots of very large boxships as cheaply as possible. The old analogy of the holes in the Swiss cheese lining up springs to mind," said Ship & Bunker's "anonymous maritime expert".
"We have been able to point the finger, maybe unfairly, at the bargain-basement yards where they were built with limited quality control in terms of building, but also in materials," he said.
"I think the most surprising thing was that the MOL Comfort was built in Japan by Mitsubishi HI, which I am sure is a yard, and a country, that certainly does not show shoddy workmanship and poor quality control," he said.
"We have also pointed the finger, more fairly in my view, at the classification societies for certifying these below-standard ships in the first place and again, every time she had an inspection," he said.
"That she was classed by NKK, one of the most stringent and experienced societies when it comes to these issues, merely makes the event all the more puzzling.
"In poor weather with heavy swells, someone with time on a boxship bridge will tell you the fear of parametric rolling is often more in the front of the mind than midships cracking forces. The mantra is to keep the seas on the bow, and where possible, not to take them on the beam." he said.
"Are we seeing the point where such methods become insufficient as box ships get bigger and bigger? Might the Russian officers [thus far identified as Ukrainian] be guilty of 'getthereitis'? Were they pushing her too hard into big swells with a cargo stowed in such a way as to amplify the loading forces around the midships moment?" the expert said.
VOCIFEROUS, but seemingly informed opinion, on the state of shipbuilding came after the MOL Comfort disaster off Yemen from an "expert" writing to Vancouver's Ship & Bunker.
"Sections are prefabricated using plate steel cut and welded by robots and assembled like a huge Lego set. In the quest for faster, more fuel efficient vessels, plate steel gets thinner and thinner, and the joints and frames get less and less substantial," he said, referring to the 8,000-TEU MOL Comfort that split in two on June 27 in heavy monsoon seas.
"It is tempting to imagine that the cause lies with the simple need for lots of very large boxships as cheaply as possible. The old analogy of the holes in the Swiss cheese lining up springs to mind," said Ship & Bunker's "anonymous maritime expert".
"We have been able to point the finger, maybe unfairly, at the bargain-basement yards where they were built with limited quality control in terms of building, but also in materials," he said.
"I think the most surprising thing was that the MOL Comfort was built in Japan by Mitsubishi HI, which I am sure is a yard, and a country, that certainly does not show shoddy workmanship and poor quality control," he said.
"We have also pointed the finger, more fairly in my view, at the classification societies for certifying these below-standard ships in the first place and again, every time she had an inspection," he said.
"That she was classed by NKK, one of the most stringent and experienced societies when it comes to these issues, merely makes the event all the more puzzling.
"In poor weather with heavy swells, someone with time on a boxship bridge will tell you the fear of parametric rolling is often more in the front of the mind than midships cracking forces. The mantra is to keep the seas on the bow, and where possible, not to take them on the beam." he said.
"Are we seeing the point where such methods become insufficient as box ships get bigger and bigger? Might the Russian officers [thus far identified as Ukrainian] be guilty of 'getthereitis'? Were they pushing her too hard into big swells with a cargo stowed in such a way as to amplify the loading forces around the midships moment?" the expert said.