DAILY BLOG. Up to the minute news and info on ships.
Tag Archive
Currently all mariners are familiar with the large full mission ship simulators like the one pictured above. Some have even played with either purpose built or recreational PC based simulators but each of these three types have inherent problems. The full mission simulators are very expensive, the purpose built ones lack realism and the recreational games are mostly avoided because, as professionals performing life critical operations in dangerous environments, we need assurance that game play is true to life. Even the slightest differences in maneuvering characteristics between the game and real life ship handling can make simulated practice detrimental to job performance.
Below is a video I found YouTube. It shows a simulated disaster situation played out on the game Ship Simulator 2008. Like a low budget Hollywood movie it contains numerous errors and I doubt it was produced by a licensed mariner but that’s not the point. This video contains realistic images and sound all produced by game that costs less than $40 US
. It also lacks any type of technical simulation that might confuse a mariner looking to prepare for a sea watch. What it does contain is a real life threat to vessel safety, the dynamic between watch standers and the master. And the game is fun!
.
Until the game makers have funding to obtain regulatory approval or the industry commissions game developers to produce one of their own, Ship Simulator 2008, will not be the replacement for time consuming trips to expensive training facilities. Let’s not let this problem stop us.
Recruitment
Ask the US Navy what has been the best recruiting device of the past 20 years and they will tell you it’s the movie Top Gun. Maritime Academies, Seafarer Organizations and Companies themselves do not have the budget or will to produce a Hollywood blockbuster but they can certainly sponsor game play and interact with young participants. The US Army does this today with great success the NYTimes has endorsed the solution for Tall Ship training, why can’t we? Getting young minds engaged and excited should be our first step in solving the manning crisis. Offering this type of gaming in a regulated and structured environment would have the benefit of assuring that players are learning lessons from the game play.
Non-Technical Training
Full mission simulators and manned ship models are likely the only solution to technical skills like ship handling and dynamic positioning but lack of skill is not the industry’s largest problem. The vast majority of large casualties are attributed to human error and the error chain leading up to the actual incident. The Titanic, Exxon Valdez and more recently the Pasha Bulker, Empress Of The North and Cosco Busan all suffered casualties due to the dynamic of trust between the Master (or pilot) and the watshstanders. Let’s use this game to promote not just Bridge Team Management but the relationship of power on the bridge and other common pitfalls a mariners experience during the course of their career. Let’s use our collective experience to create real life scenarios mimicking those watches when you had to make a difficult decision then allow our fellow mariner to face your nightmare on the simulator. The best and worst outcomes could easily be shared online for comments and viewing.
What Do You Think?
- Have and idea for creative training opportunities that speak to the problems faced by watchstanders on the Pasha Bulker, Empress Of The North, Cosco Busan or the wide array of other recent incidents? Share them with us in the comments below.
- Purchase Ship Simulator 2008, record your own scenario and post it to our forum. Be sure to ask the hard questions.
- How would you handle the scenario in the video below?
John Konrad is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage currently working as Chief Mate aboard a 865′ ship in the Gulf of Mexico. Since graduating from SUNY Maritime College he has sailed in 4 of the worlds oceans and reports from his ship via satellite.
The Marine Safety Forum gives us information on this lifeboat air bottle explosion:
A gas bottle exploded in a lifeboat of a vessel during the process of charging it up from the
Breathing Apparatus Air Compressor.
The Master of the 8 years-old vessel was in proximity of the lifeboat and he was very seriously
wounded. The bottle was quite old with different numbers/dates.
The photographs below speak for themselves. Unfortunately one person was injured – imagined
the results if this happened on the deck area with more people around.
Here is the full ALERT: Read the rest of this entry »
The U.K.’s Daily Mail has the story of Second Mate David Blair, the lucky Merchant Mariner who was pulled off the Titanic just prior to her infamous voyage.
(Note: We are republishing this post on Today, the 96th Anniversary of the tragedy.)
Blair was replaced with the more experienced officer Charles Lightroller, Chief Mate of the Olympic, by White Star just four days prior to the tragic events and hours before departure. In the rushed turnover he made a seemly small but potentially critical mistake.
For those readers not familiar with the duties of a merchant officer, turnover is a critical time aboard ship. Today most mariners work an equal time-on time-off scheduled. For example, you may work 3 months aboard a ship then have the next 3 months off meaning there are two officers assigned to the ship in each position. The turnover between the two, however, is often a hurried process. The industry has built in many ways to avoid problems but the fact is you have one person excited to go home and another just starting a long hitch and sometimes “things” are missed.
So the day Blair signed-off he likely briefed Lightroller on his duties and operational specifics then gave him written notes and any items needed for the job. The mistake? Blair accidentally took the key to the binocular locker home with him.
The Daily Mail tells us;
Blair’s rush to leave Titanic he carried this key off with him in his pocket and forgot to hand it to his replacement, Charles Lightoller.
“Had Lightoller had the key then there probably would have been a pair of binoculars in the crows nest.
“It is supposition but, in lookout Fleet’s own words, they would have seen the iceberg sooner with the binoculars.
“It is the key that had the potential to save the Titanic.”
Senator Smith, chair of the inquiry, asked Fleet: “Suppose you had glasses … could you have seen this black object [the iceberg] at a greater distance?”
Fleet replied: “We could have seen it a bit sooner.”
Asked “How much sooner?”, he said: “Well, enough to get out of the way.”
I must stop the story and make it clear this mistake was just that ….a small error… therefore should Blair be blamed for the accident? Of course not. While some point to the ship’s excessive speed, the vessel’s design or the positioning of the ship’s compass as the cause of the incident the facts clearly show the titanic sunk as a direct result of the accident chain. In other words the titanic sunk, not due to one large error but a combination of small errors that linked together caused the tragic circumstances. Remove one small link in the chain and the incident is avoided.
It is interesting to note that a string of small errors caused by human error is the cause of most large maritime incidents. The lesson to be learned….. next time you make a mistake aboard ship listen for the voice in the back of your mind and quickly ask yourself; is this an isolated incident or indication of larger problems?
Ship incidents caused by Error Chains;
(This article was originally posted Oct 2007)
Fairplay brings us the most ridiculous item of the day;
Vessels transiting US harbours could come under tight navigational controls in the wake of the Cosco Busan bridge strike and resulting spill in San Francisco Bay. Sources close to the investigation tell Fairplay that federal officials may suggest that vessels transiting US channels may be compelled to follow navigational instructions issued by the US Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service. In the case of the Cosco Busan accident, it has been alleged that VTS duty officers tried to warn the vessel off its impact course with the Bay Bridge, but their advice is just that and not mandatory for vessel operators. Fairplay asked USCG Commandant Thad Allen about the suggestion and he said that, if required to, the Coast Guard is up to the challenge of positively controlling commercial vessel traffic. But he noted that most major US harbors presently don’t have VTS systems and that such a change would require a major financial commitment “and a departure from the current culture regarding vessel navigation responsibility”. The suggested system would be along the lines of air traffic control procedures which Allen says were developed centuries after the traditional rules for vessel captains and pilots.
The problem with maritime incidents is the fix rarely address the true cause and often creates problems that contribute to future incidents. As an example here’s an email from a gCaptain reader who wishes to remain anonymous;
“The new ISPS reporting requirements are sinking us in paperwork. Just yesterday I was on bridge watch in moderate traffic, typing a report out on my laptop. For 15 minutes our captain observed my action from the chart room then came out and said:
5 Years ago if I saw you typing a report on that F$@@’n laptop I would have fired you on the spot. Today, with all these ISM/ISPS requirements, if I come up here and find your not on your laptop typing out reports, I’ll fire you on the spot!
I was paying attention to the traffic but we both knew it didn’t have my full attention… and these reports were suppose to be making us safer!! I don’t feel safer and I don’t feel the paperwork will keep terrorists away from my ship”
Unsafe indeed.
Vessel Traffic in US ports is exceptionally well run and experienced in vessel safety and operations. They do not make the proposal ridiculous, Admiral Allen does. Why? Current technology is simply not capable of delivering real time tracking. Also, final say remains the responsibility of a ship’s captain because he is the one who knows the ship’s capabilities, it’s crew and he is stationed on the bridge. He is also the last one to abandon if the ship finds danger… and he knows it.
If the Coast Guard wants final say then they need to be aboard the vessel and if that happens they will be hard pressed to fill the position with anyone more qualified than the competent and experienced San Francisco Pilots.
UPDATE:
Bob Couttie of Maritime Accident Casebook comments on this post;
VTS-assisted accidents, by action or inaction, aren’t rare, or at least not rare enough. John Clandillon-Baker, editor of The Pilot, journal of the UK Maritime Pilots Association sent us an email reminder about the Sea Express/Alaska Rainbow collision in February, 2007. VTS issues also featured in the grounding of the P&O Nedlloyd Magellan in 2001, and the source or worst oil spill so far in Singapore waters, the collision between the Evoikos and Orapin Global in October 1997. One can arguably include the Exxon Valdez.
USCG Commandant Thad Allen’s assurance to Fairplay that his command is up to the challenge has a Rice-Davies sort of quality to it, he would say that, wouldn’t he.
MAC’s own informal think-tank of veteran master mariners, who aren’t tanked up when they think, finds the proposal less objectionable, the authority of the master will remain in force much as it does now, in their view.
This is only a clip of Bob’s article so be sure to read his full post: “Cosco Busan - Who Needs Pilots?“
__________________________________________________
John Konrad is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage. Since graduating from SUNY Maritime College he has sailed 4 of the world’s oceans and reports from his ship via satellite.
A gCaptain reader forwarded the following National Public Radio appearance by our friend Kelly Sweeney, author of the book “From the Bridge, Authentic Modern Sea Stories“.
Captain Kelly brings up some excellent point so be sure you get your pen ready, you’ll want to take notes.
NPR Show Notes:
A congressional hearing into the cause of the San Francisco Bay oil spill begins today at the Presidio in San Francisco. We’ll talk to a ship captain who says that kind of spill could happen in Puget Sound too.
Guests:
Captain Kelly Sweeney is a Master Mariner, the highest Captain’s license the Coast Guard issues to commercial mariners. He has captained commercial vessels through San Francisco Bay and Puget Sound and writes a column for Professional Mariner. He is based on Whidbey Island.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO
This week’s incident photo is not for the faint of heart. Bob Couttie’Maritime Accident Casebook gives the details:
The following photo is a disturbing image and we gave considerable thought to whether or not its publication would serve a useful purpose. It’s from the Blue Oceana website and tells more than any official report possibly could of the need to be safety conscious around containers. It is from an accident in Malaysia in 2005. As the Blue Oceana makes clear, it’s a continuing problem.
CLICK HERE for the photo.
For those curious how the editors at gCaptain research maritime incidents like the Cosco Busan’s allision with San Francisco’s Bay Bridge, here are some of the websites that provide excellent reference material.
Our first stop in researching any maritime related topic is our own Maritime Industry CSE. It’s a powerful resource since it provides search results with the aid of google’s powerful search database and algarithims. Actually the only difference between it and google.com is the fact that our tool narrows the results down and only displays sites that pertain to large ships.
*Tip: Try the “incidents” refinement to narrow down the results even further.
If you are looking for trusted information on incidents as they happen then MAC should be your first stop. Be sure to visit their podcast section as well as their links page which contains a list of the best maritime resources for incident prevention.
For those looking for data that specifically pertains to Container Ships, head over to Searates’ Container Ship Reference Book. Not only is it full of Web 2.0 eye candy, it also has some great hard data.
*Tip: Its shipping lines section has links to both Cosco and Hanjin. By visiting Cosco’s site you will quickly learn they have removed their official “Cosco Busan” statement from Nov 11th.
For breaking news your first stop should be our Maritime News Discoverer but a close second is our Maritime News Mash-up which is automatically updated with the industry’s most trusted news sources.
*Tip - Also take a look at our gCaptain News and Maritime Blog Mash-ups
For those looking for expert opinion from Ship Captain’s we hope you contact us… but your next stop should be CAMM. Contact them directly for contacts from the Maritime Expert Database.
Traditional media is know for making small errors when reporting maritime incidents. To obviate this problem subscribe to MAREX’s FREE weekly newsletter. It is published every Thursday and is written by professional journalists with maritime backgrounds. For past articles click HERE.
*Tip: If you are more interested in weekly blog postings check out Fred Fry’s Maritime Monday
_______________
If you have a reference site of interest please submit it to our Maritime News Discoverer under the category “Links“
Breaking weather news from Russia. Bloomberg tells us;
An oil spill from a tanker that sank in a storm in waters between Russia and Ukraine threatens an “environmental catastrophe,” said Vladimir Slivyak, head of the Moscow-based Ecodefense group.
The Volgoneft-139 leaked 1,300 tons of fuel oil into the Kerch Strait linking the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, a Russian Transport Ministry spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, said in Moscow. Four other ships sank in yesterday’s storm that produced six-meter (20-foot) waves, state broadcaster Russia Today reported. Two sailors are dead and 23 are missing, it said.
“The effect will be very serious for the whole marine ecosystem, including fish, because of the high toxicity of oil products,” Slivyak said by telephone in Moscow yesterday. It will take several months to remove the oil on the surface, while the oil that sank will be “very hard” to clear, he added. Continue Reading…
1,300 tons converts to approximately 560,000 gallons of fuel oil or 10 times that which was spilt last week by the Cosco Busan in San Francisco Bay. No specifics yet but maybe Robin Storm can enlighten us.
CNN has some impressive video as well: LINK
First a note… I am publishing this short clip ahead of my next article because of its importance!
While preparing our upcoming “questions for investigators” article on the Cosco Busan incident we were asked by more than one party a question along this line; with communications failure being a leading cause of incidents and the crew of the Cosco Busan being Chinese of limited english skills (they required translators during the investigation) why do incidents of this type not happen more often?
The answer is Bridge Team Management.
Ok… so what is BRM?
Revisiting a previous post I state:
- Bridge Team (or resource) Management (called BRM in the industry) is a process to use all of your available resources during critical operations. It came from the airline industry which found an alarming number of accidents happened despite prior warning from the equipment or crew…. mostly by captains with military backgrounds and a “I can do this” attitude who did not fully use critical information from either the equipment or junior personnel.Boiled down it’s a class all officers must take in both teamwork and processing the large amounts of data (lookout reports, radar, radio comms, gps charting, weather information….) that pours into the bridge.
- Here’s a more official answer:The Bridge Team Management course introduces the concept of a navigation team to ship masters and watch officers and frames their decision making process toward establishing watch conditions during the course of the voyage. Bridge Team Management techniques will emphasize decision making based upon conditions related to workload and potential threat to the vessel. The intent of the program is to define the individual task and responsibilities of the various team members while developing a situational awareness to prevent individual errors.
In stating the importance of this post I am looking at the media reaction to the incident. In reporting disasters the public is often not satisfied until a single individual is blamed…. quickly. This was the case in the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Tampa Skyway Bridge Disaster and even in the early reports on the Empress of the North grounding where fault was placed on the Jr. Officer on watch who was only weeks out of the Maritime Academy. In the Empress of the North incident gCaptain broke from traditional media and laid the blame on management techniques rather than the “green” officer and we are happy to report he was recently clear of all charges (as was Capt. Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez).
It is clear to us the Cosco Busan allided with the Bay Bridge because of a breakdown in Bridge Team Management. For example while VTS contacted the ship questing its course did the mate on watch, captain, helmsman or assist tug captain also voice concern? Was the equipment operational and set up properly? As the primary fault for the Exxon Valdez incident was not with Captain Hazelwood (he was cleared of charges and his license was reinstated) John Cota, Pilot aboard the Cosco Busan is not solely at fault for this incident.
The team failed the Cosco Busan not the ship’s Chinese Captain or American Pilot alone. Lets just hope the court of public opinion does not convict either person before the long and thorough investigation is completed. Otherwise they might stand the fate of Captain Hazelwood, cleared of charges and fully licensed to pilot a ship but unable to find a company willing to hire him.
________
Asking yourself how a ship 131 wide could have such trouble in a channel 737 metres wide? Read a more unbelievable story HERE then watch the amazing slideshow HERE.
UPDATE: Bob Couttie of the Maritime Accident Casebook has a very interesting article along similar lines. You can find it HERE.
UPDATE 2:
Criminal probe opened in Bay oil spill
The entire crew of the cargo ship that sideswiped a bridge, causing San Francisco Bay’s worst oil spill in nearly two decades, has been detained as part of a criminal investigation, a Coast Guard official said Sunday.
Capt. William Uberti said he notified the U.S. attorney’s office on Saturday about issues involving management and communication among members of the bridge crew: the helmsman, the watch officer, the ship’s master and the pilot.
UPDATE: BoatingSF has a new animation that can be found here: COSCO BUSAN’S TRACK - UPDATED
_________________
Our friend John of VesselTrax.com submitted this link to our Maritime News Discoverer. Click on the picture below and watch as the Cosco Busan leaves the dock and embarks on its fateful voyage.
From BoatingSF.com:
Path of the Cosco Busan Hitting the Bay Bridge
The animation below shows the Cosco Busan as it leaves the Port of Oakland on November 7, 2007, and hits the Bay Bridge at 8:30 am on its way to the Golden Gate.
The Cosco Busan is the bright red arrow. (Hover over a ship to see its information.)
You can see that the ship was traveling at an acute angle to the bridge and then turned sharply, directly into the center tower of the bridge. (The towers are highlighted with red dots to make them more visible.)
No cleanup ships show up in our AIS records. It is not clear whether they arrived later, did not have their AIS transponders on, or if for some reason our receiver did not detect their signals. (Coast Guard ships generally do not turn on their AIS transponders, so they do not show up.)
Click here for FULL ANIMATION
Stay Tuned as our licensed ship captain John Konrad is preparing a play-by-play video of this AIS data. In the meantime CLICK HERE for the SFGate’s excellent coverage of the incident.
UPDATE 2:
You can find a complete article on how this animation was made HERE.
