Category: Shipping

The downside of global trade

The downside of global trade

Gepostet von | 30 Mar 2021 | , , , , | 0

The maritime community never tires of emphasising the importance of free sea routes and global trade. Without free maritime trade there can be no prosperity, without free sea routes there can be no security. Behind these political aspects, however, we must not overlook the fact that we are dealing with extreme logistical, technical and financial dimensions. It is also about power, profit, jobs and prestige. Ships are becoming ever more gigantic, the cargoes ever larger. Competition is fierce and profit margins are small. Precarious jobs, dubious loading practices, terrorism, smuggling and neglected environmental protection are the downside of prospering world trade. Does profit come before safety? Heavy losses in the...

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Piled high, fallen low

Piled high, fallen low

Gepostet von | 16 Mar 2021 | , , , | 0

The MSC Zoe lost hundreds of containers in the North Sea in 2019. Are similar accidents inevitable? The MSC Zoe accident, in which more than 342 containers went overboard off the Frisian Islands on the night of 2 January 2019, was apparently caused by the extreme rolling movements of the container ship in the stormy sea. At least that is the preliminary conclusion of the Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation (BSU) in Hamburg. According to the BSU, it was assumed that the huge ship rolled back and forth so much in the choppy sea that the lugs on the containers could no longer withstand the enormous loads...

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Nine layers on deck

Nine layers on deck

Gepostet von | 16 Mar 2021 | , , | 0

Why do serious accidents involving container ships occur again and again at sea? Shipping expert Dieter Becker explains the reasons and shows solutions. Mr Becker, why are so many containers transported as deck cargo on container ships? This has to do with the so-called "clearance", i.e. the stowage coefficient of the containers on board a ship. This is the measurement that indicates the hold capacity in cubic metres per tonne of cargo on a ship. Containers only have a stowage coefficient of around 0.40, so they take up a lot of space compared to their weight. As a result, up to 40 per cent of the container volume is transported as deck cargo,...

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Safe navigation through sea mine detection

Safe navigation through sea mine detection

Gepostet von | 9 Dec 2020 | , , | 0

Professor Andreas Karcher and his team at the Institute of Applied Computer Science at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich are researching a system in cooperation with the Wehrtechnische Dienststelle für Schiffe und Marinewaffen, Maritime Technologie und Forschung (WTD 71) that helps to detect sea mines under water more effectively than previously possible. Sea mines are a danger to shipping. They have a serious impact on the feasibility of operations and on operational procedures. The more automatically they can be rendered harmless, the less manpower is required. Automatic detection of this hazard plays a key role here. This must be analysed in the operational system context. With the same systemic...

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Accident involving the GLORY AMSTERDAM

Accident involving the GLORY AMSTERDAM

Gepostet von | 4 Dec 2020 | , | 0

On 29 October 2017, the bulk carrier MS Glory Amsterdam ran aground 1.6 nautical miles north of the island of Langeoog. There has been a lack of understanding among the public about the fact that this ship was able to drift from its anchor position in the deep-water roadstead in the German Bight to its stranding off the island of Langeoog within twelve hours without an emergency tow by the motor tug Nordic being successful at the instigation of the Central Command for Maritime Emergencies. The author has analysed the course of the unsuccessful assistance by the motor tug Nordic in his capacity as a publicly appointed and sworn expert for shipbuilding and comes to the following conclusion. This accident was caused by...

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