Cargo ship in the news

Help???

I heard about this the other day. I have heard of no off-loading or containing efforts since. Somebody please tell us that something is in process other than letting her sit, spill & breakup.

Yes, it's been in the news constantly over here. Potential and likely to be a major environmental catastrophe.
The captain has been arrested. Many crew taken off.
Volunteers are trying hard to help the sea life, but many dead creatures being washed up.
Apparently it happened in good weather conditions and the reef was well known and on the charts.
HOW, in this age a "captain" can do this, is amazing to me. Reminds me of the incident off Moreton Island some time ago and the cause was that the captain wanted to get out to sea, in spite of weather warnings and offload in HK ASAP for his bonus or similar.

It's sort of like the Exxon Valdez. The sealife will recover and the organisms will eat the fuel/oil. In the Gulf, 1000 barrels of oil naturally leach out from the sea floor and organisms eat it up. It's very sad to see though.

Hi,

It is very sad to see but I am afraid it is a good example of the Banana Republic that NZ seems to have become.

It seems more about politicians and sound bites than WTF do we need to do to fix this.

The information and statements from supposedly official channels show a lack of understanding or comprehension of what is happening from those who are supposed to know and know how to respond.

This is not the first box boat to go aground in similar circumstances and the Owners of this one lost another one on an English beach a few years ago through a major Structural Failure.

The MSC Napoli in all it's glory: MSC Napoli - Google Search



The shareholders of the Owners Co of the Rena won't suffer anything though:

Rena owner increases dividend payout | Stuff.co.nz

I hate to say it but our neighbours to the west have a good record in getting box boats off things, there was a great one at the approach to Brisbane years ago where a lot of the boxes were lifted off by Helicopter and dropped ashore and she was pulled off = admittedly it was a beach not two rocks one at the bow and one just fwd of midships with the rest of the ship hanging in space.

Quite a harsh statement indeed, coming from K1W1, a Kiwi(?) expatriate who found refuge in USA sometime ago.

But let's put all the hype, from YF contributors aside for a brief moment and that of the general and International media reporting surrounding this particular event into some perspective...

1) The Greek-owned and Liberian-flagged container ship ran aground on 5 October on Astrolabe Reef, 22km (14 miles) from Tauranga Harbour on New Zealand's North Island. More than 300 tonnes of heavy fuel oil are estimated to have spilled from the hull already, polluting many kilometres of nearby beaches. Environmentalists have warned of a disaster for wildlife if all 1,700 tonnes of oil and 200 tonnes of diesel held on board spill into the sea.

2) The NZ authorities together with the general media, all consider this to be a major environmental disaster...

The truth is that whilst this may well have been a local and/or NZ's most important environmental disaster in history, it is almost nothing compared to other oil spills in my (and your own) lifetimes elsewhere. But before going any further, I'd like to clarify something. That when we talk about 1 tonne of crude / diesel / fuel oil, we're talking about 1m3 or thereabouts...?!

Because the Exxon Valdez reputedly spilled anywhere between 41,000 to 119,000 m3 (ie. 62 times that of the M/V RENA)...? Hard to believe that we're comparing declared spillage from a super-tanker (transporting crude oil from Alaska) with that of the fuel spillage from a relatively small container-ship and fuel used solely for its own propulsion...?! To which one might add the BP / Deepwater Horizon gulf-oil spill, which supposedly resulted in a mere 780,000 m3of crude oil escaping into the Gulf (I don't believe the figures, thinking that much more oil must have escaped than announced), or 410 times that of the M/V RENA...

Kafue, accidents, by their nature, will always occur, for better or worse. Because regardless of all the precautions mankind imposes, at the end of the day, we're dealing with mere human-beings. If (or when), the next "M/V RENA" incident hits NZ in 0 -25 years time, they will undoubtedly remove and imprison without bail "the electronic box/es" responsable.

So let's not all just jump over-board into the oily depths to our deaths just yet, just because reports out of NZ (but mostly those in the International media) suggest that the current NZ crisis is between 62 and 410 times less-seriouscompared to other recent oil-spillages elsewhere.

NZ already bans military vessels from "friendly-nations" if they might be carrying nuclear armaments. And what many simple people embarking on a world cruise don't understand is how they bought frozen NZ lamb in quantity before traversing the Pacific, but found that all of it had to be destroyed on arrival there (in NZ).

Forgive me, but I reckon that Kiwis in general, and the media that report on events there get a grip on themselves in future...?!

K1w1

I am glad to see K1W1 being the focus of numerous attacks today, now if only his rugby team also gets beat we will really get onto him, oh but which team would that be, is he a K1W1 or a Yankee or is he a Frenchman or an Italian.

I think the bars are open and serving up the strong stuff over in the Riviera today.

Sure we all know the other spills were bigger but so what, 300 tons or cubic meters is still alot of stuff and will cause damage, have you ever been to NZ.

As CaptJ writes there is oil leaking into the worlds oceans in greater quantaties than any accident has ever spilt, still not a good thing but look at the gulf, not long ago the experts were saying the region would be dead for years to come, I had some Gulf sea food over there last week and it was pretty good.

Do you think being an ex-pat cuts you off from your home country and what is happening there. By the way there are alot of US citizens living overseas and many others on boats all over the world who I know have strong views on what is happening bakc at home as well.

Community

Airship, I respectfully suggest you tone down your posts.
Comments on K1W1 for example, follow the same pattern that most of your other posts do: Antagonistic, personal and often arrogant. You ACTUALLY believe you are superior to others!
A short time ago Carl reminded us what this forum is really about.
I will not defend K1W1, not because I don't like him, actually the complete opposite, I enjoy his posts very much and he is one of the those personalities on YF that make it better!
I don't need to defend him because he is more than capable of taking care of himself, especially against a person who places themselves on such as high pedestal as you do.

So this oil spill is of no comparison to BIGGER ones you know of. Congratulations, your knowledge on oil and calculus impress me!!
In the years I have been on this forum I have never read more critical and insulting posts than yours.
The fact that you gave a verbal Nazi salute to another long standing YF contributor and got away with it still amazes me.
(See your post #17 on “Angry Young Men”)

I don’t speak for YF, but my opinion on this forum is that it is a community.
Show some respect and treat members how you would like to be treated.

Yachtjocky wrote:

You got something right. When I first moved into my 45m² 1 bedroom apartment in the old part of Antibes almost 20 years ago, it was close enough to all "the action" from the point of view of a 30 year-old bachelor, but far enough away so that I could sleep peacefully. In 2011, the streets which once harboured various and useful local businesses (a yacht-chandler, a bakery etc.) are today either all restaurants (for ignorant and hungry tourists for 3-4 months of the year) or converted to bars catering almost exclusively to yacht crews. These bars often remain open until 2AM, followed and accompanied by all the usual disturbances...?! But usually by about 3AM, the streets are once again quiet. Until about 5.30AM, when the city's municipal street-cleaning vehicules start their rounds...?! PS. Concerning the rugby, I don't believe the Yankees were ever "in the game". The Italians are out. The French are into the semi-finals, and the Kiwis (favourites) right up there as well...

Kafue, you "respectfully" instruct me to tone down my posts. Accusing me of being "antagonistic, personal and often arrogant" to the point that

All I can say is that I thought I was simply addressing the original subject (the oil spill in NZ). And bringing some perspective to the event. It was not my intention to "personally attack" K1W1, nor do I believe that I did so. If anyone here is "at fault", it's you. Your own post does not directly address the original subject (the NZ oil spill) in any sense. You decided to "hijack" this thread because, for whatever reasons, you don't in fact appreciate my contributions for personal reasons. Subject closed.

FWIW, I do perhaps have a tendency to set overly "high" standards for myself which may be reflected in the "tone" or otherwise of my contributions to these forums. Be reassured that I'm rarely able to fulfill any such standards in my daily life (business or otherwise). But I find some comfort in knowing that 100,000 years ago (or approx. 3,400 generations ago based on our predecessors living 30 years or thereabouts on average), our ancestors had a small "paint factory" in operation. US Paints / Awlgrip / Alex Seal Coatings should take note perhaps...?!

I'm all for less hype, more personal involvement, more honesty and frankness, less opacity in these forums.

NZ may currently be experiencing their worst oil spill disaster to date. All I was trying to do was bring some perspective to all of this. Presumably, NZ also has ports which take in crude oil imports (not sure if NZ has any refineries) from super-tankers which pose a far greater threat (in case of spillage) compared to that of a small container-ship...?! Sorry if that's not acceptable here.

Yawn.....

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz!
You got that Mate!

Hi,

Now that gear from all over the planet has been assembled onsite the Oil pumping ops can begin in a narrow weather window.

Lets hope they can get the majority of the remaining HFO off the thing before it breaks up and sinks or drifts ashore somewhere.

Rena | Oil Pumping To Start | Stuff.co.nz

revdcs wrote:

Kafue wrote:

Somehow, this isn't the quite YF that I originally subscribed to...?! Where we have "Senior members" simply yawning or otherwise as above in reply.

If you have any serious arguments, then please express them clearly so that everyone in this forum can take these into account.

Yawn...ZZZZZZzzzzz etc. back at you - got that mateys?

Hi,

As an aside to the Pastis fuelled Pantomime, here is an update on the ship this thread is the subject of.

Rena Disaster| Loss of Experts Blamed For Delays | Stuff.co.nz

Many countries have suffered a brain drain (experts leaving for where they can get paid what they're worth) in recent years. It's something we all have to accept until job markets improve. Unfortunately, the smaller (population-wise) and tighter-knit the community, the harder it's felt. This may not be the biggest catastrophe the world has seen, but it's one more proverbial straw for NZ which has suffered more than a few in recent years. Good to hear that the seas are finally expected to subside so work on this can begin in earnest. Good point made in K1W1's article that these are more of an international expert effort, like platform fires and such, and there really hasn't been much that could be done with the sea conditions. So they've actually arrived at the right time. I'm sure though that the NZlanders are thinking back to their earthquake and realizing that they need to have good emergency response crews on standby even though it's expensive to do so. I suspect these fellows will find job offers from home waiting when this is done.

Canadian Great Lakes Ship Aground

Canadian Miner was under tow from Toronto Ontario to Turkey for scrap.


The MV Miner broke free of its towing line and ran aground on Scatarie Island this week. A Canadian Coast Guard helicopter captured this image of the vessel while conducting a surveillance flight Wednesday. Submitted by Canadian Coast Guard
Published on September 22, 2011
Published on September 22, 2011
SYDNEY — Scatarie Island, once a navigational nightmare for shipping traffic, has claimed its first victim in a long time.

Topics : Canadian Coast Guard , Canada Steamship Lines , Scatarie Island , Great Lakes , Cape Breton
Just past 2 a.m. Tuesday, a former Great Lakes shipping vessel now known as MV Miner broke free of its towing line and ran aground on the small island off the coast of Cape Breton.

“As the tug was towing it to Europe in heavy seas, it broke its tow line and the barge drifted,” said Seward Benoit, senior response officer with the Canadian Coast Guard environmental response.

“He couldn’t get back alongside of it because the seas were running too hard. It drifted and landed on Scatarie Island.”

The ship was en route to Aliaga, Turkey, where she will be dismantled for scrap.

The 12,000-tonne, 222-metre vessel has a cargo capacity of over 28,000 tonnes, but was empty at the time.

“It ended up on the north side of the island between the lighthouse and northwest cove,” said local resident Bob Martell.

“Where I live I can see right across there at night, the lights on the boats and everything. I’m living in Mira Gut for 43 years, I’ve never actually seen a boat hit and stay there and sink, but you hear about it.”

Wrecks near Scatarie Island include the 1911 sinking of the passenger steamer ferry SS Bruce and the 1873 wreck of the British steamer Saltwall on the Hay Island shoals near Scatarie Island.

The British warship HMS Feversham also wrecked on Scatarie Island during an October 1711 gale.

“That’s the first one there in a long time,” said James MacQueen, a fisherman from Round Island.

MacQueen viewed the vessel through binoculars from Waddens Cove.

“It is right up on the rocks. They tried to tow it off (Wednesday) with the tug but they couldn’t get it off. It could be a mess if they don’t get it out of there.”

Benoit said the coast guard monitored the vessel and efforts to remove it but there were no immediate environmental concerns.

“It does have 6.5 metric tonnes of marine diesel on board and that is basically to run the generator. It is empty outside of that.”

The latest attempt to move the vessel off the island resumed at high tide Thursday evening but as of 5:30 p.m. the ship had not moved.

Built in 1966 as Maplecliffe Hall, the vessel first sailed the Great Lakes hauling primarily iron ore and grain. She was renamed LeMoyne in 1988 by Canada Steamship Lines until becoming Canadian Miner for Upper Lakes Shipping in Toronto in 1994.

Now known as MV Miner, the ship sailed until 2009.