That ecological disaster just off our coast. Two ships collide.
It is with sadness and concern that today I heard of that catastrophic collision of those vessels just off Spurn Point. Thankfully it appears no human life was lost but the pollution caused could detrimentally affect the wildlife of the area for many years. This includes the bird colonies at Bempton Cliffs, the Lincolnshire seal colonies and the newly reestablished seagrass meadows planted in the Humber estuary. The latter being previously decimated by decades of industrial pollution in the Humber. Such a shame as this is part of a rewilding project which could now be lost completely.
We have also been witnessing increased numbers of whales, dolphins and tuna along the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coastline in recent years and a general increase of marine and estuarine species in the Humber. Let’s hope all will be well. So sad!😞
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Not good at all micky, as along with the spilt fuel the cargo vessel has lost 15 containers of the toxic chemical sodium cyanide!😳😮
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In a perverse way, it’s perhaps 'fortunate' for wildlife that the fuel being carried is burning. Yes, that will harm the environment but every bit that burns won’t wash ashore to pollute sea and land and the wildlife therein.
In Cornwall, shipping accidents at sea and resulting oil spills have devastated our coastline and wildlife on too many occasions. Who can forget the Torrey Canyon disaster! I hope your area doesn’t suffer too badly, Micky.
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I remember the Torrey Canyon, dreadful. Will be watching what happens on our closest coastal area with some dread. Beggars belief how it could happen in this day and age, and in broad daylight😡
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Looks like it could be a major disaster but only time will tell. From initial reports it looks like Solos, the freighter, was at fault as it crashed near midships into the tanker, which suggests there was no proper watch on the bridge. On that basis there looks to be very severe negligence, but we need more investigation.
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Sadly a mariner is unaccounted for.
Coming from a Grimsby fishing family who have lost members at sea I find it difficult to understand what has happened in this modern age. I regularly use my iPad and Vessel App to track vessels and fishing boats along this coast which gives an up to date, almost minute by minute, view and position of marine traffic. With modern day Sat tracking, radar and other systems aboard boats this collision beggars belief. I know we mustn’t speculate but there will be many, including the family of the missing sailor who will be mystified and in total shock. I’m sure our thoughts go out to this family,0 -
I was deeply saddened to hear of this, what looks like to be, a totally unavoidable catastrophe. The only "good" bit of news that I have read is that the owners of the cargo ship state there was no sodium cyanide on board conflicting with previous reports.
I feel for the relatives of the missing seaman who almost has perished.
On a personal note we love the wildlife found around the Humber and that coastal area and had intended to have a week in May over there. That may well now have to be changed. One can only hope that the knock on effect of the pollution isn't as severe as those that happened after Torrey Canyon.
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Totally agree @Wildwood . Drawing on my naval and yachting experience, I just cannot understand how, in this day and age, this has happened. Since 2004 all commercial vessels over 300 gross tons on international routes have had to had AIS installed and working and it was designed / intended to prevent collisions such as this. In addition to that, there is radar which can be set up with an alarm to sound if anything enters a pre-determined radius. Then there is the Mk1 eyeball and basic seamanship. Someone has a lot of very basic questions to answer.
However, not all the blame must automatically be apportioned to the container ship. Did the tanker have someone on the bridge on anchor watch? Where they keeping a radar plot? Was a message sent out on VHF Ch16 to the container ship when it was realised that a collision was likely?
A tragedy that could and should have been avoided.
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Interesting that the ex- Marine Investigator interviewed on Look North tonight made all the points that I did above!
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I certainly read it as "avoidable" WN. Other than that I agree with your and other's comments. My first reaction also was "how could that even happen in this day and age"? It makes me very sad indeed to think of what wildlife will lose/have lost their lives as a result; and also what the implications are for the long term.
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Seems the cargo ship's captain has been arrested
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It’s all over our Look North news here. The baby seals are still on the beaches not far away, just hope they can contain the fuel spillage. Captain of the cargo ship is a Russian. He is in deep trouble.
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How’s this for intrigue - one ship carries fuel for US jets and the other has a Russian Captain 🫢
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It might be quite as bad an ecological disaster as first feared, as the for has been extinguished on the tanker and the coastguard are saying there does not appear to any more fuel discharged into the sea. Fingers crossed that this is so.
"the coastguard had confirmed that there had been no further reports of pollution to the sea since the initial incident" from the BBC News report.
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Be interesting to know what they are going to do with both ships as they have to bring them into Port at some point?
David
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Folk around us are asking which port the hulks will be taken to. I don’t think many want them in their estuary or port for fear of pollution. Also a sizeable graving dock, or appropriate similar where repairs or scrappage can take place doesn’t exist in the Humber region so where will they go?
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I suppose it will depend on whether the damage to the ships in question is so bad that it prevents them being towed across the North Sea to Holland where they probably have the facilities to deal with them? If the damage is too great then there probably won't be a choice but to bring them into a UK Port?
David
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"Who can forget the Torrey Canyon disaster"
yes indeed, I never will, i was on HMS Highburton at the time and we spent many weeks spraying industrial detergent onto the oil in an attempt to disperse it, terrible job, it was later thought this did more harm than good as large quantities just sank to the sea bed, after much discussion it was decided to let the RAF loose to try and sink the vessel, I seem to recall that initially this was not very successful but eventually the ship was sunk, i assume she is still resting on the sea bed. We did have many great runs ashore in St Peter port so not all bad but it took weeks to get the oil of the hull which of course was wood.
It does not matter how many aids you install on ships in an effort to prevent this type of disaster, if the guy who is supposed to be on watch on the bridge is not paying attention, and some of these guys do 12 hour shifts, a ship on auto pilot will just continue on whatever course was set which is what probably happened in this case
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Yes, the auto pilot systems would not change the set route but alarms should have been set off activating urgent human intervention. The reaction time and outcome to altering a vessel’s course is vey slow but those alarms should have given time appropriate warnings.
I do hope that scuppering is not on the cards, cheapest action but potentially most dangerous to wildlife and ultimately us. Who will pay I wonder for this catastrophe. We know what happens with insurances don’t we. We all pay in the long run, the insurance companies will not, that’s their core business and they are good at it!
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I remember the Torrey Canyon..awful to watch.
We watched a documentary recently on the TV, channel completely unknown as there's so many these days! About the Torrey Canyon. Very interesting about how they were thinking and planning 'on the hoof' to sort it. I believe the RAF weren't trying to sink it, but ignite the fuel. I remember the headlines about them not being able to sink it .....
It seems that we always sort corrective measures 'on the hoof' ,there are no contingency plans for if things go wrong. This being a classic example! No cyanide on board but empty containers used for it. A minute quality is too much.....
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It does seem there was no lookout at all on the freighter. TV news showed the bridge camera and the ship not deviating from its course. While I understand that changing course takes time, any attempt should show up on the camera and there was none. Hitting the tanker square on tends to show this.
It does look like here was no lookout on the anker either but other than send a radio message to the freighter and he coast guard, it is doubtful they could have done anything else.
I suspect the Russian captain is a red herring but you never know.
I doubt the insurers will have any choice here but to pay, but the history of the freighter with faults might be a problem.
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"It does seem there was no lookout at all on the freighter. TV news showed the bridge camera and the ship not deviating from its course. While I understand that changing course takes time, any attempt should show up on the camera and there was none. Hitting the tanker square on tends to show this.
It does look like here was no lookout on the anker either but other than send a radio message to the freighter and he coast guard, it is doubtful they could have done anything else"
ships sailing the seven seas under flags of convenience, poorly paid and untrained staff predominately from countries such as the Phillipines, ships poorly maintained, we used to see it all the time when we were doing Bira patrol of the coast of South Africa and you have to remember it could take up to 1 mile for a super tanker/freighter doing 16 knots to stop.
We still get accidents in the Solent, not frequent, i think the last major one was a car transporter that keeled over just outside of the main shipping channel, they said the ballast tanks/cargo had not be distrubted correctly, fortunately Captain steered the ship out of the deep water channel if he had not succeeded then Southampton port could have been out of action for weeks, lots of very expensive cars destined for the Far East completely written off
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Breaking News
The captain of a cargo ship that collided with an oil tanker in the North Sea has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter.
Now I wonder what Putin will make of that?
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