Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

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The Dieselduck
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by The Dieselduck »

Just reading on Reuters an interesting article. The rest of the story will slowly come out after the "outrage". I don't believe for one minute that Costa does not share the blame for this... simple answers are not the usual for accidents, I for one, am always weary of those promoting these. There was a total break down in bridge procedures, at the very least. If the Capt was so incompetent, who hired him and entrusted him with these responsibility. Who trained him, and the crew around him, who was responsible for that. Costa always had a rep for being a great crowd pleaser cruise.... exactly. What was the corporate attitude to make sure they stood out and protected their profits taking too many risks.

One of the most striking comments I found, is a quote from the Capt, saying the VDR was not functioning at the time of the accident, and from two weeks prior. Yesterday, I heard divers had retrieved a hard drive from french news, and I was wondering why. I had in my mind that the whole accident's timeline and exact events would be recorded but apparently not. Maybe that's why the authorities are being mum. I assumed they had an exact picture of what was happening on the bridge and would save us from all these media, and us, speculating on things, and give us the straight facts - eventually. But I guess this might be out of the picture now.

Here is the article...http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/ ... 8220120122
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by JK »

jimmys wrote:
How does she go astern with 21MW electric motors driving shafts. The later in this class are azimuth pods. I never really looked. Reversing these size of motors is a job. Will come back later. Short of time.
When I worked on AC\AC, the reversing of the large motors regenerated back to the diesel altenators. That was a 4260 plant with big motors and huge propellers and shafts-50tonnes. They had the ability to stop so fast that the inertia could slip the clutch.
I would assume that the present process would be the same.
(My post)
I never wrote this Jimmys (my bold )
A public apology to Jimmy S. He did not write this, I accidently edited his post as a moderator by hitting the "Edit" button, instead of "Quote", then never noticed I had posted as him.
I never edit our member posts other then to fix pictures. But because I am always logged in as a Moderator, I have to pay attention to my actions, which I didn't do this time.
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by JK »

Martin, there is not much that surprises in that article, is there? The villians are all going to be eventually outed.
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by JK »

Interesting comments in the UK paper the telegraph, two paragraphs of:
“As the hull is breached,” one of their papers says, “water may rush through various compartments, substantially reducing stability even when the floodwater amount is small. As a result the ship could heel to large angles – letting water into the upper decks that spreads rapidly through these spaces and may lead to rapid capsize.” Hence what happened to the Costa Concordia, which was holed on the port side but after grounding, which forced water across the ship, then listed dramatically to starboard.

Prof Vassalos and his colleagues have been warning of this with increasing urgency for eight years. As they put it in a paper published in 2007 by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects, “the regulatory system is stretched to breaking point”. But even though their researches were part-funded by the EU, it took no notice of their findings. In 2009, for instance, it issued a new directive adding little to one from 1998 before this fatal design flaw had come to light.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/colu ... afety.html

All the "told-you-so"ers are coming out of the boatsheds.
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by JK »

I received this in my emails this morning:
http://gcaptain.com/in-defense-of-capta ... ain.com%29

and a nice little picture showing the scale of the scene

http://gcaptain.com/photo-of-the-day-co ... ace/?37843
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by jimmys »

We can see pictures of the damage to the vessel. What we see is marginal to sink a two compartment ship. I think more on the stb side. The damage port side is generally below the waterline. The bulkhead deck is above the waterline by an amount known as the freeboard.
Flooding below the bulkhead deck is controlled and the area is split by the longitudenal girder and the port and stb longitudenals. Water is contained below the bulkhead deck. The main subdivision bulkheads run to this deck. No ship will stand being driven on to rocks at fifteen knots.
All calculation concerning subdivision and stability are at zero speed and everyone knows that. Damage first get to zero speed, assess then move.

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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by Wyatt »

All excellent points Jimmy. Speed changes everything.
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by JollyJack »

The latest news I heard from the Concordia was that the dive rescue team got into the main lounge bar and found 4 Scots sitting there drinking….when told they were there to rescue them the Scots tourists said…. "Bugger off, we're all inclusive!"
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by JK »

Relatives, JollyJack? :lol:
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by jimmys »

Us Jocks are right into the drinking of ale whenever the opportunity rises especially if its free. Eastern Canadians have not discovered why it is always solid. Giglio is a nice temperature. We are fussy about our relatives lots of them over in Canada, mostly deported!!!

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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by JK »

The Nautical Institute comments
The Nautical Institute learned with great sadness of the loss of life associated with the sinking of the Costa Concordia and expresses condolences to the bereaved families and sympathies to the injured and traumatised survivors. We congratulate the rescue agencies who continue to search for casualties in very difficult circumstances. The Nautical Institute notes with extreme disquiet the alacrity with which the ship’s owners, Costa Cruises, blamed all on the Master, Captain Francesco Schettino, accusing him of unprofessional conduct before any investigations could have taken place.
The Nautical Institute is also extremely uneasy with the speculation in much of the world’s media. Some evidence which should be in the hands of official investigators is being paraded in newspapers and television news programmes. Blatant speculation into the actions of Captain Schettino and others before, during and after the accident is being presented as fact.
Captain Schettino stands accused of very serious crimes in Italy although he at least has a lawyer acting for him. The Italian State has initiated an official investigation into the sinking of the Costa Concordia and the actions of her Master and crew. It would be wise to await the outcome of the official investigation and trial, if one is deemed necessary by the Italian State, before publishing speculation which only serves to make it impossible for any defendant to receive a fair trial or for an unbiased jury to be appointed.
The Nautical Institute will continue to speak out in defence of any mariner who is subjected to less than fair treatment and who is not given the right of any human being to be considered innocent until proven guilty.
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by JollyJack »

Seafarer's humour has always been on the black side, here's a sample of it:

With apologies to all those of Italian origin and to those who contemplate a cruise in the Med.

# How do they serve alcoholic drinks on Italian cruise ships? - On the rocks

# What vegetables do you get with dinner on Italian cruise ships? - Leeks

# What's the fastest way to get off an Italian cruise ship? - Follow the captain

# When the captain of the ill fated Costa Concordia was asked if he knew where he was going he replied "off course."

# So the captain of the Costa Concordia will soon be in the dock. That's more than can be said for his ship.

# The captain says he is not guilty of manslaughter. He has witnesses to prove he was nowhere near the passengers who died.

# I like my women how I like my Italian Cruises. Wet, wrecked and ready to go down.

# The Costa Concordia is probably the most expensive thing to go down in Italy since Berlusconi's last hooker.

# What's the difference between the Italian economy and the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia?
Nothing - The bottoms dropped out of both.
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by The Dieselduck »

hahahaha,i like the berlusconi one, pretty funny.... probably both were paid for by carnival too, eheheee
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by Wyatt »

Carnival Corp.'s wrecked cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, may cost insurers as much as $800 million once employers' liability claims are paid and the vessel is removed, according to analysts at Numis Securities.

The total insurance loss is likely to be between $600 million and $800 million, Nick Johnson, a London-based insurance analyst at Numis, wrote in a note Monday. The cruise ship's hull insurance will pay out about $512 million, a person with knowledge of the policy said Sunday.

Assicurazioni Generali, RSA Insurance Group and XL Group are among insurers facing payouts for the ship, three people with knowledge of the policies said. Hannover Re, the world's fourth-largest reinsurer, said it will take a "major loss" exceeding 10 million euros from the wreck. The cost of the disaster to insurers is likely to exceed the $500 million paid out following the Exxon Valdez disaster off the coast of Alaska in 1989, making the Costa Concordia the largest marine loss on record, Joy Ferneyhough, a London-based analyst at Espirito Santo Investment Bank, wrote in a note to clients Monday. Bloomberg News

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/0 ... rylink=cpy
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Re: Italy cruise ship Costa Concordia aground near Giglio

Post by The Dieselduck »

Can you imagine the Engineer on watch. He must be so jumpy still. I can only imagine.

Obviously he would have been the first to know of a problem. Alarms would be going off like crazy, the printer would be spitting out pages like it was Christmas. He probably saw water pouring into the spaces through the CCTV. Trying to decipher what the hell is happening and how to deal with. "Do I start the emergency suction... Oh yeah call the chief, the staff chief, the first, help!!! Oh my god, the motorman, incinerator operator, where are they..." all in a split second decision making process.

I remember when my ship ran aground several years ago, for a long time after, and even still, my heart skips a beat when the boat bumps into the barge, when tightening up the tow. Its a hell of a feeling, I don't know if I'll ever get over it.

That would be something to hear his story. There's a lesson in engine room resource management.
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