Costa Allegra

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jimmys
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Costa Allegra

Post by jimmys »

Another Costa vessel the Allegra is adrift in the Indian Ocean near the Seychelles. A generator fire has disabled all main engines. There is approx. 1000 passengers aboard.
Not good news for Costa Cruises.
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Madzng
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by Madzng »

Lets hope the pirates are too busy to read the news, and dont arrive before the rescue teams..

Built in 1969 if you believe Wikipedia but according to Sky News this is a sister ship to the Costa Concordia... :?
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by Wyatt »

http://digitaljournal.com/article/320306
Here is a short story about this vessel.
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JK
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by JK »

I'll bet Marine SAR all over the world are wondering how the heck they are going to deal with something like this with a fleet of 60' fast boats!
Then again, probably not because the ships are safe and meet all rules.
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Madzng
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by Madzng »

"A French fishing boat fixed a line to the Costa Allegra during the night and was by dawn slowly pulling the stricken liner towards Desroches island, 150 miles south of Victoria, the Seychelles capital."*

That'll be the biggest thing he has ever caught!

I wonder what Salvage rights were agreed.. I hope that the skipper had his head screwed on when he made the deal.

* Taken from the Daily Telegraph website
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by Big Pete »

Must be some fishing boat to tow a cruise liner! In salvage getting a line onboard is hitting the jackpot, even if it is only a heaving line. If the fishing boat didn't agree to either Llyoyds open form, or a day rate first, the Captain will be shot by Costa.
Heard some reports that they only have "emergency batterry power" on board, so not sure if the emergency geny is working or not. BBC Radio news was saying the trawlers were going to supply Electric Power when they arrived, I hope they have a good set of jump leads.
Must be mess : - all toilet facilities out, no power to pump domestic fresh water, for drinking or washing, no power to cook food or kep the domestic fridges running, No A.C., they are going to be very unhappy Bunnies when they get ashore, and plenty of time for the press to be waiting to interview them. We can only hope they don't come down with Cholera or Typhoid or some other nasty.
I wonder how long the soft drinks and Bar Snacks will last?
I can see a major overhaul of Passenger Ship Regulations coming up after these two incidents. Portaloos and K rations required?
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by The Dieselduck »

This was an old cargo ship, so why can't they get the main engine up and running - at least one of them. Its not a diesel electric propulsion system, all of their essentials should be on emergency power, they should be able to get limping "home" using the mains. Unlike a diesel electric set up on most modern cruise ships, the propulsion is separate. Very strange. Must of been a hell of a fire - or then again poor design, maintenance and or procedures. Gee that would be unthinkable.

http://www.costacruise.com/B2C/USA/Press/default.htm
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Madzng
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by Madzng »

The trouble with a lot of older ships (and some newer ones), is that there was no thought put in to the engine room layout and the routing of the vital cables.

Ships were designed with shortest possible cable runs to keep costs down, with the cables running right above some of the biggest fire hazzards onboard.

Even a small fire in the wrong location could easily destroy the power cables running into or out of the switchboard disabling the ship.
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by Big Pete »

According to some of the Radio 4 (UK) reports I have heard the fire was in the generator room.

Many years ago I sailed with an Electrician who had been on a Steam Turbine Electric P& O Passenger ship while she was building. (1950's) He pointed out to everyone who would listen that the main power cables ran directly above the main turbines. Nobody listened, but after a while, all the rubber insulation started to fail and the cables started shorting out, THEN they ran new cables the long way round.

Some years ago I experienced an Engine Room Fire on a Car Carrier. We lost the fire pumps and had to abandon the ER and put the CO2 in. The cables for the Bridge remote start/stops for the fire pumps burnt through, they ran up the inside of the funnel without any protection from fire. If we had more time we could have rewired the starters to bypass the Remote circuit, but the ship only had 2 Engineers and a Motorman, both of us Engineers were fighting the fire and the Motorman was too frightened of the smoke to leave the Accomodation.
There appear to be more incidents like this, maybe the Rules should be changed to include "HARDENING" as the Military call it, of essential circuits, giving them protection against Fire and Mechanical Damage.
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by JK »

As JollyJack points out, a seaman's life is cheap when a dollar is to be saved by the company.
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by The Dieselduck »

Can anyone with proper knowledge expand on the Lloyds Open Form and salvage rights. I'm reading that the Allegra wont be let go by the fishing boat even though the tugs are now ready to take the tow. I assume this has to do with payment and salvor's rights...
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by jimmys »

I assume the Costa Allegra is being towed by the fishing vessel using the Allegra insurance wire and appropriate shackles for this purpose. These are stowed in the forward end of a passenger ship. The reason this wire is there is to regulate claims for towage. I have used this wire in another tow. It is not difficult to use this is what it is meant for.
It is unlikely the fishing vessel would have a wire sufficient to tow the Allegra.
This vessel was reengined in 1992 at the refit, I dont know what propellers she has now. Whatever cabling she has and whatever insulation the copper conductor will only take 150degC and will not stand up to a fire.
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by JK »

I pulled this off the 'net:
Containership (1) built 1969 Finland. (IMO 6916885)
as built she had a hatch aft and was 174.43m Loa, 14,936 grt, 6x holds 25x hatches. 744 teus. Cr= 1x35; 2x25; 1x10;
4x Wartsila engines- 26,040 hp- 23 knots, 2x c/p props, 1x thw thrust prop fwd. 1992 converted to a Passenger Ship/Cruise (1) lengthened by approx 14m and the engines replaced with new Wartsila units.
Since 1992 she has had various owners/managers, flags/PoR's all connected with Crociere, who where taken over in 2000 by the Carnival Group.
I read that the original tow vessel refused to drop the tow when the deep sea tugs showed up. A profitable tuna catch for him .
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Madzng
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by Madzng »

I've attached the Lloyds Open Form document, as you can see there isnt much to it.

The ship’s master and the Salvage Master could agree Lloyd’s Open Form either verbally or by signing the form itself. The ship’s master then knew that help was at hand and he could not be criticised for making an agreement that everyone in the maritime world saw as fair and reasonable. The Salvage Master could go ahead and do his job knowing that his work would be fairly rewarded according to the services he performed and the value of the property saved. More importantly, there was no excuse to delay agreeing Lloyd’s Open Form and the salvors, often in very heroic and difficult circumstances, could get on with their real job ofsaving life and property.
As a by-product, by preventing a drama from turning into a crisis, they often prevented damage to the environment. The salvage award was generally paid by the property underwriters who were content to pay the salvors rather than pay their assured a total loss claim. Everyone was, if not happy, at least comfortable with Lloyd’s Open Form.
The disasters that occurred where ships’ masters or owners refused or delayed agreement to Lloyd’s Open Form highlighted the benefits of the Lloyd’s Open Form system and acted as an encouragement for others to embrace it.

The person/company doing the salvaging doesnt get anything if the effort is not successul, but if it is succesful the case is brought to an independent panel.

As I understand this is how it works;

The salvage will be paid for at a set of preset rates and the value of the cargo and vessel will be agreed.

The fun part comes when the two parties start to discuss how urgent the salvage was and what the potential outcome was.

If the vessel is minutes from going on the rock and being an insurance loss then reward for salvage person/company will be large.

If the vessel was just drifting and in no way in danger then the reward is less and for instance the owners could of sent their own vessel to tow it to port.

I am sure that Costa/Carnival will insist that the vessel was not in any danger and that there was no need to tow the vessel etc..

I would expect the fishing boat will get his costs etc paid back at the preset rates and a small (compared to the total value of the ship) payout.
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LOF2000.pdf
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jimmys
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Re: Costa Allegra

Post by jimmys »

From interviews with the passengers it would seem the power source on the Allegra was a portable generator from the fishing vessel and the Allegra was completely dead. She had no food available and I wonder if they would not open the fridges to feed the passengers to minimise losses in the future. The freezers will hold if not opened.
It beggars belief the whole episode. Maybe the all electric wonder system on the vessel.
The open form would not be used in this instance, this is a payup and shut up deal.
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