The breaking apart and subsequent sinking of the bow and stern sections of the container ship MOL Comfort in the Indian Ocean earlier this summer may have been caused by the same structural flaws that caused the wreck of the MSC Napoli in 2007, the Journal of Commerce’s Peter Lynch has reported.
The Comfort, a 1,036-foot Bahamian-flagged container ship chartered by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines — or MOL — broke in two about 200 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen on June 17. The crew of 26 abandoned ship and was rescued safely, but the ship itself didn’t fare as well.
Despite frantic salvage efforts, the aft section sank on June 27 and the bow section was destroyed by fire and sank July 11. All 4,382 containers aboard the ship — valued in the $300 million to $400 million range — were lost.
Like the Comfort, the MSC Napoli suffered damage to its hull structure in heavy weather in the English Channel.
When horizontal cracks appeared in the hull around the engine room, the ship was intentionally beached on the English shore to prevent it from sinking.
A subsequent investigation of the Napoli disaster resulted in recommended hull design changes, but the Comfort — which went into service in 2008 — was built before the recommendations could be put into effect.
Tim Donney, global head of marine risk engineering at Allianz Risk Consultants, told Lynch the Comfort disaster remains a mystery.
The weather wasn‘t that heavy. The ship should have been able to survive, the Journal of Commerce reported Donney as saying.
“By both parts sinking, the mystery will now continue,” he added.
Following the disaster, MOL pulled the Comfort’s six sister ships out of service for inspection. The vessels were built in the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Nagasaki shipyard.
“The sister ships all have the same basic design,” Donney said.
The breakup of the ship also could have been caused by improper loading of containers or an earlier grounding that may have weakened the hull, the JOC reported.
The Japanese classification society NKK is investigating the disaster and has contracted with Lloyd’s Register to produce a preliminary report in September.
Foltz: Better container growth
While he’s not expecting a “massive ramp-up,” Georgia Ports executive director Curtis Foltz predicts the second half of 2013 will bring good growth in container volumes for the GPA.
“The days of us in this industry seeing a massive preseason ramp-up in September and October are probably done. I think the supply chain realized it was probably more efficient to ease that curve a little bit and not have this massive spike,” he said.
“So I think you’ll see gradual growth through August, September and October, starting to taper off mid-November. So now that we’re out of July, we’re hoping for strong volumes going forward and that’s what we’re hearing from the trades.”
Senior business reporter Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for the Savannah Morning News. She can be reached at 912-652-0324 or at mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
SHIPPING SCHEDULE THESE ARE THE SHIPS EXPECTED TO CALL ON GEORGIA PORTS AUTHORITY’S GARDEN CITY AND OCEAN TERMINALS IN THE NEXT WEEK. SAILING SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.
Terminal Ship name Arrival
GCT HANJIN GDYNIA Today
GCT PAGO Today
GCT MSC CARMEN Today
GCT MAERSK WISCONSIN Today
GCT MSC ORIANE Today
GCT HORIZON APHRODITE Today
OT GRANDE GABON Today
GCT CMA CGM EIFFEL Saturday
GCT MESSOLOGI Saturday
GCT APL ZEEBRUGGE Saturday
GCT EVER DELIGHT Saturday
GCT KIEL EXPRESS Saturday
GCT CHARLESTON EXPRESS Saturday
OT BBC KIMBERLEY Saturday
GCT MUKADDES KALKAVAN Sunday
GCT ZIM PUSAN Sunday
GCT ZIM BARCELONA Sunday
GCT YM EMINENCE Sunday
GCT TOKYO EXPRESS Sunday
OT TIJUCA Sunday
GCT HANJIN LOS ANGELES Monday
GCT NYK JOANNA Monday
GCT NYK DEMETER Monday
GCT AMELIA Monday
GCT PARIS EXPRESS Monday
GCT ALBERT MAERSK Monday
GCT YANTIAN EXPRESS Monday
OT UNICO SIENNA Monday
OT TUGELA Monday
GCT MOL ENDOWMENT Tuesday
GCT ZIM RIO GRANDE Tuesday
GCT MSC TOMOKO Tuesday
GCT MSC DYMPHNA Tuesday
GCT MAERSK DENVER Tuesday
GCT NYK DAEDALUS Tuesday
GCT HANJIN MUNDRA Tuesday
GCT STADT LUNEBURG Wednesday
GCT MOL PARTNER Wednesday
GCT HANJIN NORFOLK Wednesday
GCT STUTTGART EXPRESS Wednesday
OT SAFMARINE SAHEL Wednesday
GCT YM EFFICIENCY Thursday
GCT JPO CAPRICORNUS Thursday
GCT CSCL NEW YORK Thursday
GCT ZIM NEW YORK Thursday
GCT MAERSK MONTANA Thursday
GCT ISLANDIA Thursday
GCT NEDLLOYD MERCATOR Thursday
GCT YM GREAT Thursday