SHIP HITS TRICOLOR AGAIN

Sky News ^ | Last Updated: 21:27 UK, Wednesday January 01, 2003 | Sky News

[colette_g]

Tricolor is lying on its side

SHIP HITS TRICOLOR AGAIN

A ship carrying 70,000 tonnes of highly flammable gas oil has crashed into the submerged car transporter which sank in the English Channel.

French coastguards are trying to rescue the crew of The Vicky - which is stuck on top of the the submerged Tricolor.

The Tricolor was carrying 2,862 BMWs, Volvos and Saabs worth an estimated £30m when it sank off the French port of Dunkirk two weeks ago after colliding with the container ship Kariba in thick fog.

The submerged wreck of the Tricolor, which was left lying on its side, was then hit by the Nicola, a 3,000-tonne ship registered in the Dutch Antilles.

Dover Coastguard said it was not yet known if there was any imminent danger of the highly flammable oil on board The Vicky igniting, or whether the ship was sinking.

The spokesman said: "If the Vicky is holed then the French are going to have get the crew off quickly and then deal with any pollution issue later."

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Since two ships already collided there recently, you may suppose that this is a crowded shipping lane. (The Channel is.) So, a partially submerged hull is just an accident waiting to happen. It isn't like it's south of Johnson Atoll or west of Shemya. It's clearly a hazard to navigation and needs to dealt with.

[monkeyshine]

Yeah, I'm sure it's a shipping lane, which makes it all the more bizarre. As if the ships captains aren't aware of the sunken friegher, and don't have the appropriate navigation equipment/radars to locate obstancles (like sand dunes and reefs) under the surface of the water?

[kylaka]

Hey, no drinking and diving. The cops will give you a DUI and the mothers against drunk diving will be MADD!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I assure you subsurface obstructions do not show up on radar and almost no ships have intrumentation to detect them. You need up-to-date charts. When a hazard to navigation occurs, the responsible authorities take measures to warn ships and remove the hazard, as a matter of course. This whole thing just doesn't make sense.

[CitizenSailorChief]

You may be thinking of the Nimrod.

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/maritime/nimrod/index.shtml

[Husker24]

Yep, thats what I was thinking of. Thanks, I knew someone would come up with it.

[csvset]

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Thanks. Impressive piece of seaman on the Nicola. Apparently they've managed to squeak in under the wire to take the 2002 Hazelwood Award for most avoidable collision of the year.

[DB]

Gee, have they heard of radar and GPS...

Amazing... Nothin like playin bumper ships on the high seas...

[tm22721]

It's like running at night out of NY Harbor, radar picks up boats, bouys, bridges, but not telephone poles or railroad ties floating in the water (just one of them at over 10 knots could ruin your whole night

Tell me about it. In Oct '97 I ran into something at night near the Verrazano bridge at 15 knots. I had to limp into a nearby marina for $1500 worth of repairs.

BUMP

[southland]

2862 BMW's would make a huge water sale of used slightly used ..cars.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

From the BBC website:

Thursday, 2 January, 2003, 15:36 GMT

'Human error' inquiry into ship crash

The Vicky is being inspected for damage

An investigation is under way to find out if human error may have caused a ship carrying 70,000 tonnes of highly flammable oil to became the second vessel to collide with the Channel wreck of the Tricolor.

The Vicky, which was on its way to New York, got stuck on the car transporter for several hours on New Year's Day, before managing to float away.

The Tricolor has been struck twice since sinking

The maritime union has said it is concerned "Russian roulette" is being played with safety in the channel.

The Tricolor originally sank with its cargo of 3,000 cars after being hit in thick fog by the cargo freighter Kariba on 14 December. It was hit two days later by the ship the Nicola.

An underwater survey was due to be carried out on the Turkish-registered Vicky on Thursday to determine if any kerosene fuel was leaking from the tanker, which is reported to be listing.

Adequate warnings

Watch officer Peter Legg, from Dover Coastguard, told BBC News the inquiry - headed up by the French authorities - would examine whether human error was involved in Wednesday's collision.

But he defended the actions taken to warn other ships about the wreck.

"There is a possibility that this could happen again but at the present moment we have done all we can to make this wreck obvious to the mariner," he said.

Wednesday's incident has raised further questions about whether warnings to passing ships about the wreck in one of the world's busiest shipping channels are adequate.

Buoys and emergency guardships remain in place around the wreck of the Tricolor and hourly radio warnings are being broadcast to shipping.

In December, the Tricolor was hit by the 3,000 tonne ship the Nicola, two days after it sank.

Concern was raised then about whether adequate warnings about the wreck were in place.

Maritime union NUMAST warned ship owners were cutting crew levels and demanding excessive working hours.

Union spokesman Andrew Linington said he was "appalled" to hear about the latest incident.

He said 90% of such incidents were the result of the human factor.

"There is a constant drive to reduce crewing levels and people can be working 80 to 90 hours a week on busy waterways like these".

BBC transport correspondent Simon Montague said it was feared there would be a repeat of 1971 when a sunken tanker off Folkestone was hit by two ships, which in turn sank themselves with the loss of dozens of lives.

The Vicky, built in 1981, is a single-hulled, double bottomed vessel - meaning it has an extra layer of metal around the base of the hull.

The 243 metre-long, 43,000 tonne tanker was en route from Antwerp in Belgium to New York when it struck the Tricolor.

[maica]

Thanks for posting the terrific graphics. I had no idea that the original collision occurred with ships in the same shipping lane, going the same direction. WOW! The crew must have all been asleep (or watching telly) below!

[Travis McGee]

I was on the bridge of a warship transitting south to north at night, real white knuckle navigation! (Not by me, I was just a very minor cog.) Not only the other transitting ships, but dozens of contacts crossing at all speeds and angles!

[Travis McGee]

Now that's going to be a major salvage job!

If the Dutch are not in charge I will be shocked, they are the finest in the world bar none at this macro marine stuff.

[Darksheare]

Cool. Vehicle shaped rust.
The builders of the Tricolor will be proud.

[Darksheare]

Sorta like their white sailor's uniforms that make the sailors look like gay kindergardners?

[Dan Day]

I couldn't think of a funny enough "Hold muh...." title. Any takers ?

"Hold muh seamen"?