Australian Spirit

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JK
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Australian Spirit

Post by JK »

The Australian Spirit lost steering late last week off of NS and was towed into Halifax Harbout in a thick fog.
Today another Teekay ship is alongside to offload the oil cargo.

At a guess, the Spirit needs to be docked to address the steering issues. I have no report of any little chubby Chief Engineers throwing themself from the stern in despair, so heads must still be intact and not rolling.

Australian Spirit.jpg
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PS, excuse the crappy photo, they are about 2.5 miles away and I snapped this with a blackberry
Revolver
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by Revolver »

Yes, it was towed in by the Venture Sea.
Curious to find out the source of the steering problem.
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Big Pete
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by Big Pete »

If they are Docking her, it sounds like a rudder issue rather than the steering gear.

I have seen problems before where the feedback Potentiometers on the rudder failed and the rudder repeatedly banged against the mechanical stops until the repeated shock loading caused the rudder post to shear off.

I have also heard of Coasters that have had a clever Naval Architect modify them to reduce the Freeboard i.e. load more cargo and still comply with the Load Line regs, no one calculated the extra stress on the rudder post caused by the deeper immersion and deadwight of the ship, so the excessive torque on it caused it to crack....

I was also on one ship where the safety valves on the Hydraulic steering gear were continually lifting, found the problem at Docking when they tried to drop the rudder, it was an interference fit in the bush. Had to take Hydraulic jacks to it to make it go down.
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JK
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by JK »

All pumped out and high enough in the water to get alongside the dock. That is a mothering big ship. Being in the Narrows makes her look even bigger.
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JollyJack
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by JollyJack »

She's not particulary huge, for a tanker. Of course, when you're used to small marine snow ploughs and tow trucks..... everything is relative. :D :lol:
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JK
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by JK »

What are you doing up so late!!
We need a middle finger icon for JJ when he is feeling naughty...coal for you my friend! :shock:

She may not be particularly big, but parked at the Narrows she looks like a corker.
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JollyJack
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by JollyJack »

She's at Pier 9 (where the Mont Blanc blew up) with no rudder.
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JK
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by JK »

Is that along the lines of the bow fell off?
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by The Dieselduck »

http://www.dieselduck.info/videos/06%20 ... issues.wmv

On a serious note; is the TSB investigating? Seems like a rudder falling off a tanker would be serious enough for them to get involved?

I had to cringe the other day, when I read Capt. Brown's statements (from the BC chamber of shipping) championing tanker traffic in BC alluding that Exxon Valdez can't happen in our waters. Maybe I misunderstood his point, but even with a modern, experienced company that Teekay is, running a newish ship, accidents will happen.
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JollyJack
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by JollyJack »

TK is a very efficiently run, ships are of a very high standard. That's my experience anyway.
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by JFC »

The ship is now alongside in Setubal, Portugal. Interesting to what factors of maintenance or inspection have contributed to such an event. This can only happen with a failure of the pintle bearings or failure of the rudder stock itself I would think. Be interesting case study I am sure. Cheers!
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JK
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Re: Australian Spirit

Post by JK »

because there was no resulting accident it will probably never be known what happened unless you were connected with the company.
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