MV Mol Comfort breaks her back in Arabian Sea

[CharlieDelta]

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. informed that the MOL-operated containership MOL Comfort suffered a crack amidships and ingressed water in the hold while under way from Singapore to Jeddah on the Indian Ocean on June 17, 2013 due to inclement weather.

This made it impossible for the vessel to continue on under its own power.
Some of the containers on the vessel were lost overboard or suffered damage during the incident. Details are being confirmed.The damage to the MOL Comfort is extensive, while the 26 crew members took to lifeboats. All were safely rescued by other vessels in the area.

MOL immediately set up the Emergency Control Headquarters for the incident, and is taking company-wide measures necessary to address the matter properly.

Article:

http://worldmaritimenews.com/archives/86777/mol-comfort-suffers-damage-during-trip-to-jeddah/

Marine Traffic Ship Info:

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=311006900

[CharlieDelta]

gCaptain article is quite comprehensive:

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

[Clanky]

Good to hear that all onboard have been safely rescued.

[GuinnessMan]

Good to hear that all onboard have been safely rescued.

Aye, thats good to hear!

Strange thing to happen though. Does anyone know if container ships undergo something like a tanker's special survey or CAP with UT Gauging at their full term drydockings?

[Clanky]

This was a 5 year old ship, it is possible that she had never been dry-docked!

Sounds to me that either someone got their stress calculations wrong or there were some serious lies told about container weights on the manifest. I guess that the enquiry will be published in due course.

[GuinnessMan]

This was a 5 year old ship, it is possible that she had never been dry-docked!

Sounds to me that either someone got their stress calculations wrong or there were some serious lies told about container weights on the manifest. I guess that the enquiry will be published in due course.

Possible, but she would have had an underwater survey 2 years ago at the very least and she probably would have been due for it now.

I'd imagine the regulations for the container shipping business will get stricter shortly because is this not the 3rd or 4th time this happened in the last few years?

[Clanky]

Having been onboard a class one passenger vessel for an in water survey, were the surveyor failed to notice the two great chunks of new steel which had been replaced under water with the ship in service without class having been informed I am not entirely convinced that an in water survey would have picked up the kind of structural defect which could have caused this incident.

[YoungMariner]

We are in the same navarea at the moment, so have been reading the SAT C messages as they come in. 430nm SE of Salalah. Rescue by the Yantian Express. Weather conditions down there are generally fair.

Agree, that the investigation will be an interesting read.

[CharlieDelta]

Latest news: the ship has actually split in two and both sections remain afloat. They have not sunk as previously reported. Photos from MRCC Mumbai.

molcomfort.jpg

[Hatchorder]

Latest news: the ship has actually split in two and both sections remain afloat. They have not sunk as previously reported. Photos from MRCC Mumbai.

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Go get her boys! Get a line on her and offer "Lloyds Open Form". Couple of lifeboats and a good weeks rowing will see that sorted out I'm sure..... Cargo alone will be worth more than the ship I'll hazard a guess.

[CharlieDelta]

Pre-split:

BM-BG4vCMAE-3d-.jpg

From @nalam65 on Twitter

[ETwhat?]

Not sunk as previously reported, that's surely a reasonable thing to get wrong, oh its sunk! oh wait no that was the wrong window its over there :/

[CharlieDelta]

Not sunk as previously reported, that's surely a reasonable thing to get wrong, oh its sunk! oh wait no that was the wrong window its over there :/

I think somewhere along the line gCaptain decided that she'd sunk and everyone went with that, until photos came up on Twitter of the two halves!

[Clanky]

Surely LOF wouldn't apply in this case?

[Hatchorder]

Surely LOF wouldn't apply in this case?

My understanding of LOF is that a captain can request aid and decide whether to go for a daily contract rate or LOF but he still remains in charge of the vessel whilst he remains on board. However if a ship has been abandoned then the salvor (i.e. first person to get a line on her) is in charge of the vessel and can choose LOF. I believe it is still used in 90% of salvage cases these days, but I am sure it was updated recently because of the problem with container ships and the different number of interested parties.

I also think that more countries are now taking a stance on delays in negotiating contract rates for salvage to prevent pollution issues from delays causing further damage and greater risks and therefore force shipowners to declare LOF.

So:

I'll take the front half - whose in the lifeboat with me? Total worth of ship and cargo - $120M ? Average LOF settlement 15 to 20% - Each Lifeboat gets $12M - 12 men to a lifeboat - $1M each. Bit of hard work for a week or two but sure we could do it......

*shuffles off to look for blister plasters, water bottle and Brufen*

Ian