True, i didn’t think about the clog that stopped all shipping behind the freighter.

Showtalk said...

I can’t find anything about the contents of containers on that ship.  

The shelf life for vaccinations is too short to waste on sending them by ship.

If any stories out their are claiming that... they're probably just conspiracy theory propagandists!

FWIW

The boat is afloat.  It may be free by tomorrow.

Showtalk said...

The boat is afloat.  It may be free by tomorrow.

Yep, the rudder has been free for 2 days now, and in the next day or two, several really large tug boats will arrive and should be able to pull it off the sandbar it's washed up on.

FWIW

Will it be used again or is it ruined?

Showtalk said...

Will it be used again or is it ruined?

Damage seems to have been minimal and it can run on it's own power now.

However, as in all accidents, there will be a full hull inspection but that cannot be done until the ship arrives in Rotterdam and gets all those hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo off that ship.

Then they will move it into drydock, pump all the water out and give the entire hull a complete inspection. But that probably won't happen for at least another month or three depending on how soon and where they can find an empty drydock that large.

So I would imagine that they will take it out of commission once it offloads it's current cargo until the inspection is complete and it's given a sea-worthy go-ahead to be re-commissioned back into service.

FWIW

Do they know why it ran aground?

I have yet to see a final report. That may take a month or two, but I did read a report that wind was NOT a factor.

I have a suspicion that it might have been purposeful negligence, but will wait for the final report!

FWIW

Maybe over the weight limit?

Showtalk said...

Maybe over the weight limit?

I doubt it. If it were overweight, it would have either sunk or toppled over (unable to be ballasted properly).

I know it may look like a lot of containers on top to you, but I go deep sea fishing all the time and have seen numerous ships that look very similar to that. They're amazing to watch real close up.

I believe this one was intentional, but we'll have to wait and see the final report.

I have several suspicions as I've seen several other similar accidents in the past where a Chinese captain of a large vessel caused their ship to drift into the causeway bridge entering the Japanese Kansai International Airport and closed road access to the airport for 4 or 5 months during re-construction. Then, there was a Chinese pilot who crash landed on one of the two runways at Narita International Airport closing one of the runways for close to two weeks during inspection of the crash and then clean up.

This time, the owner of the ship is Japanese, but the Captain of the ship was Chinese.

FWIW