Ferries and passenger shipping

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Nick

Press article: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47727267

For decades, good military communications equipment has incorporated a "protective shutdown override" button, to keep it working even at the risk of internal damage, in situations where your life depends on it.
The full investigation will take some time but perhaps this concept in security engineering should receive more attention in the passenger shipping world too.

Heck of a place for the safeties to kick in. I'd think that there would be indicators showing why the engines shut down. Also, does one tank supply all of the engines, or were all lubrication supplies equally low? The former would be a horrible design, while the latter implies considerable neglect of maintenance.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Norway: Low Oil Pressure Caused Viking Sky’s Engine Blackout

The Viking Sky, with almost 1,400 passengers and crew aboard, sent out a mayday signal on Saturday as it drifted in rough waters in the Norwegian Sea to within 100 meters of land. All four engines had failed, but crew managed to restart one of the engines just in time.

“Our conclusion is that the engine failure was directly caused by low oil pressure,” the Norwegian Maritime Authority said in a statement.

“The level of lubricating oil in the tanks was within set limits, however relatively low, when the vessel started to cross Hustadvika,” it added, referring to the stretch of water where the incident happened.
<snip>
The NMA has drawn up a general safety notice about ensuring a continuous supply of lubricating oil to engines and other critical systems in poor weather conditions. This should be done in cooperation with the engine supplier and, moreover, be included in the ship’s risk assessments in the safety management system.

Perhaps if the oil levels had been topped up, rather than being "relatively low," the shutdowns wouldn't have happened. I imagine keeping the lubricating oil topped up will be one of the steps they'll be required to implement. IMO it was inexcusable for them not to keep the oil topped up as SOP. They sail with 1400 lives in their hands! What were they trying to do, save a piddling amount of money on maintenance?

I can understand the automatic shutdown feature, though. The thing with keeping an engine running when it's not getting oil is, it will stop, probably fairly soon, and for good. There's no restarting an engine that seizes up due to inadequate lubrication. After the automatic shutdowns, at least they were able to restart three of the engines, and one of them when it really counted.

I had a neighbor who was a mechanic, and he told me he'd dropped plenty of replacement engines in to cars, paid for by whatever Jiffy Lube or other oil-change place had failed to tighten the plug on the bottom of the oil pan.

[Nick]

As ships get bigger while docks in major cities do not, mooring is becoming an increasingly delicate operation.
On February 20, reports say that a manoeuvring cruise ship made contact with a moored cruise ship in Buenos Aires:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0zA_MypjA

And now it appears to have happened again, this time in Vancouver:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRbaTA8IbWc

[Nick]

Today, we have a full-scale exercise practising the evacuation of a large ferry at sea, just off the Hook of Holland:

http://www.reddingopzee.nl/en/the-ex...xercise-about/

[kladner]

It is good to know that safety is taken seriously. That ferry looks like a moderate-sized cruise ship. What routes does it serve?

[Nick]

Originally Posted by kladner

That ferry looks like a moderate-sized cruise ship. What routes does it serve?

Yes, it's big and sails between Rotterdam and Hull in the UK.
http://www.poferries.com/en/hull-rot.../pride-of-hull

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Nick

Yes, it's big and sails between Rotterdam and Hull in the UK.
http://www.poferries.com/en/hull-rot.../pride-of-hull

As in 700 feet big. It is interesting that, like Great Lakes freighters, it appears to have the bridge at the bow. I have long wondered why the Lakers are like this. Does it have something to do with the particular style of "rough water" on the Lakes, compared to what is experienced on oceans?
EDIT: The wiki mentions this difference, and that newer vessels have reverted to a single, stern "island." It does not, in a quick skim, say why the forward pilothouse design exists.

[Nick]

There may be many factors (I'm not an expert on ship design), but at night the bridge crew need to look out into the darkness without being blinded by brightly lit passenger decks, of course.
Technical details of the Pride of Hull: https://www.ship-technology.com/proj...l-cruiseferry/

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Nick

There may be many factors (I'm not an expert on ship design), but at night the bridge crew need to look out into the darkness without being blinded by brightly lit passenger decks, of course.
Technical details of the Pride of Hull: https://www.ship-technology.com/proj...l-cruiseferry/

Good point. I remember now, from the Atlantis cruise I was on. At a Meet the Captain gathering, he mentioned that at the first party, they had ask the sound and light crew at the stern to please not shoot lasers beyond midships.

[Brian-E]

Originally Posted by kladner

Good point. I remember now, from the Atlantis cruise I was on. At a Meet the Captain gathering, he mentioned that at the first party, they had ask the sound and light crew at the stern to please not shoot lasers beyond midships.

Those Atlantis parties are pretty wild, aren't they? The captain and navigation crew must have to adopt a particularly tolerant attitude during those particular cruises. When I think about it now, I can't actually remember lasers being used in any of the ones we experienced. I guess a special request must have been put to the captain on your cruise, and "keep the lasers behind midships" must have been the compromise.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Brian-E

Those Atlantis parties are pretty wild, aren't they? The captain and navigation crew must have to adopt a particularly tolerant attitude during those particular cruises. When I think about it now, I can't actually remember lasers being used in any of the ones we experienced. I guess a special request must have been put to the captain on your cruise, and "keep the lasers behind midships" must have been the compromise.

There were lots of lasers. I guess they were shooting out ahead, at first. The captain was a very pleasant guy. Dutch, but living with his wife in Romania.

The bit about lights came up when someone asked about Alaska cruises. The captain smiled and said that unlike the Titanic "We have radar." He did say that staying dark-acclimated was critical for night sailing, all the same.

The last photo below was taken from our veranda on the second night out. Our cabin was on the highest deck, I think, and just behind the most forward bar, which looked out over the bow. I suspect that this was the sort of intrusion the bridge did not want. I think this was shot from a tripod. The motion blurs of the stars are interesting in the way they trace the ship's motion.

The other 4 shots are from the party on the fifth night.