Ok, this does not really restore my faith in rocket scientists...
Picture by AP
There is obviously more to the story here, than just a ship hitting a bridge; come on look at the thing, who the hell thought that would fit under the that bridge. Maybe they were not ballasted enough, but even that, must be a nerve racking tight fit. More pictures here.
The Delta Mariner carries rocket components for Boeing, used for NASA and the US Air Force, among others. Below is an official comment by the rocket scientist about the crash...
The Delta Mariner, owned and operated by Foss
Marine, made contact with the Eggner Ferry Bridge at U.S. Highway 68
and Kentucky Highway 80 over the Tennessee River Thursday evening, Jan.
26 at 8:15 p.m. Central Time resulting in a portion of the bridge
collapsing.
The 312-foot vessel was carrying vehicle
components for an upcoming United Launch Alliance launch from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. There are no injuries on the Mariner or the bridge.
Initial inspections have shown that the flight hardware being transported was not damaged.
The Coast Guard is conducting an investigation.
The Delta Mariner was commissioned in 2002 to
transport flight hardware from the United Launch Alliance factory in
Decatur, Ala., to launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
The Delta Mariner is owned and operated by Foss Maritime, based in Seattle. The US flagged, ABS classed ship was built in 1999 by Halter Marine. It has installed propulsive power consisting of EMDs, delivering 8000 hp.
More pictures of the 8679 GT ship and its cargo here. Here is a the news story from Huffington Post. Foss seems to have quickly taken down their webpage on the ship, but you can find the cache page here.
One day into my wife and I's first vacation in 8 years, and some foolish act results in one of the latest, and largest passenger ships to partially sinks. Having work on cruise ships for four years and like most professionals mariners, I was captivated and stunned. How could have this happened?
Needless to say my wife was probably a little annoyed for my thirst of consuming what little news bit I could get from the various newscast in our "limited internet" hotel; German, English, Spanish and Fox News - yes they speak their own language on that channel.
While she sipped Mojitos, I sat slackjawed at that massive rock firmly embedded into Costa Concordia's hull. A gaping hole clearly visible, white tanktop peeking through, judging from the location, was firmly in engine room area. It is no wonder the ship was doomed, there is little hope to control that kind of flooding from a breach that big.
The media message was shock at first, then turned vile quickly, as Costa's spinner, investigation leaks, fed them more and more disparaging comments about the Master of the vessel, Captain Francesco Schettino. Obviously, in a bid to deflect as much responsibility as possible - at least in the eye of the media and its followers.
Every professional mariner these days, knows that not much gets done on a ship without the say so from shore, no matter what the competence level there appears to be. Costa / Carnival's shameful public distancing of its ship's master from themselves, before the Search and Rescue phase of the disaster is even over, is a clear message to all mariners that you are on your own, all the time - beware. Yet again, we are reminded why there is a shortage of people wanting to work at sea.
Obviously, there would appear to be some mistakes in judgment made by the Master, in my mind the only possible proof of this, found in the transcripts of his exchanges with what I assume was the On Scene Commander for the emergency response. The "chaos" during evacuation, the "bottle of wine", the "slip and trip into a lifeboat", the "mysterious blonde" etc. are all red herrings that have little proof to be accurate.
Clearly, there was a mis-judgement in the execution of their voyage plan. That in itself suggest a major failure of discipline within the Navigational watch, and the bridge team in general. Proper bridge resource management training, if done, would have given the tools to prevent this kind of mistake to occur. Of course only if the individuals on the bridge where provided with the training, or the confidence, from all levels of the company to question a poor choice. Judging from head office's response, one would say the culture was / is one of dominate personality, right from the top. Their response, that the captain has too much power, is laughable in this day and age, and exemplify exactly this disconnected, bully mentality which has been proven to be counter-productive, and resulting in exactly this type of accidents.
Of course the Master is responsible for all that goes on, on his ship, but I could not help commenting (preaching) to my wife, whose eyes were rolling yet again, that so little attention was paid to the "Captains" of industry, when they drove their "ships" into shoals. Yesterday, I was pleasantly surprise to find just such reference, in Rupert Murdoch's own Wall Street Journal (of all places), in the article "O Captain! My Captain!". Michael Grey, of his usual astute observations, writes of the sobering reality that occurs to the Master of a doomed vessel, long before the facts are presented accurately, and fairly accessed.
But if Costa / Carnival are so quick to damn the man so publicly, why they did place him in charge of such a vessel. Perhaps they know that they don't pay their crews well enough, or trained them enough - or have enough of them - to assure high quality in the first place. Perhaps their performance based bonus system, rewards risky behaviour from their crews. Maybe they (are) "slipping into a lifeboat" too.
Regardless of the actions of the Captain during or shortly after the accident, if they felt he was of little character, why don't they decidedly step into the limelight, get on scene and show some backbone. Take charge of the situation - show leadership, and openly assist in the process; communicate with the public. Even BP to some extent, understood this with the Deepwater Horizon. As Chief Engineer, when my Second or Third does not perform adequately, I feel, and it is, my responsibility to step in and take charge - that's how it works.
The facts may never be fully known; I understand the Voyage Data Recorder was not functioning at the time of the accident. The communication by the response authorities are woefully inadequate in this day and age - perhaps its just my Italian. The only communications from anyone in the know, are from the aforementioned Costa web page, which is carefully crafted to provide as little information. I don't blame them necessarily either for this, if watching Fox News was any indication. The ship had barely settled on its side, when these talking heads on US national "news shows" are spouting off about the level of cash involved in lawsuits - what the hell is wrong with us?
I don't expect much from the Italian authorities, from their history they seem to be keenly aware of various special interest groups and how they are involved in all aspect of their judicial, political and social landscape. Carnival is a major consumer of Italian shipbuilding products, and related services, such as Class and heavy equipment. The shipbuilding contracts are also attached to ship's crewing requirements as well. I suppose there will be little appetite to truly find the root cause of the disaster, and even less motivation to fix it. It sells more papers to publicly skewer one man, sweep it under the rug asap, than to have a good look under the hood of this industry.
There been an interesting discussion on The Common Rail. Of course everyone is talking about it, but unfortunately few have proper insight. SMIT is now standing by to move to the pollution abatement stage, once Search and Rescue operations are terminated. The salvage contract has not been awarded. I believe though this will be one of the most costly and massive salvage jobs ever seen. I suspect the damage from both the port and starboard side will be too great for her to be re floated, one can hope, but most likely the residents of Isola del Giglio will have a new tourist attraction for some time to come. It would not surprise me if Carnival / Costa sent them a bill, to collect their share of the "tourist" revenue.
Pictures and videos from various internet sources.
A Canadian shipping company sent out Christmas cards this year, with a nice picture of one their ships, operating in the arctic. There was a passage inside the card, by Thomas Fuller, the English cleric who lived in the 16th century - I assume.
" he that will not sail till all dangers are over must never put to sea "
Now, I understand the power of quotes to invoke certain feelings; I use them extensively on my website. Being a professional mariner, and my wife hearing my stories of Canadian ships I've work on, we both had a good laugh and a strange look after reading this quote...
Being the positive persons that I am, I believe the company was trying to convey that they operate in harsh environments, and that the job being done is not without risk, and that it takes skills to accomplish it.
My wife was more in the mind that the company was sending out a message - quit your belly aching; its a old ship, and shit happens, now get back to work. But whose to say.
The ship pictured on the Christmas card, built in the 1980s, is a good average indication of the fleet. That one actually changes flag twice a year too - another "Canadian can do" thing. All very interesting really, it will be fun to see what they come up with next year for Christmas card saying - hey, if you don't like it, try starving.
OK, OK, like usual, I am probably breathing too much into it. After all, it's nice that a company sends out individual Christmas card to their employees - not quite as nice as getting that IPod clone that one company gave me for Christmas, but still a nice gesture.
Oh yeah, by the way, Happy New Year. Welcome 2012.
Rustbucket picture, from Dubai's Mission to Seafarer.
Just a quick note to wishes you all the very best of the Season. I hope your Christmas was pleasant, safe and fulfilling as it was for us. We spent a quiet Christmas at our home in BC, where the boys enjoyed opening some presents and relaxed with visits to family. The local weather was a typical rainy day with 7 degree celsius - perhaps not a white Christmas, but just fine for us.
I am thoughtful of many of our peers who are out working, away from their families and wish them a safe time at sea. I further send out my well wishes to those seafarers currently imprisoned by pirates and other thieves. These are terribly anxious times for them, and their family, and we can only hope that the situation improves for all involved.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Below is a picture of the USCGC Alder arriving in Chicago, earlier this month, with a cargo of Christmas trees.
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Alder, homeported in Duluth, Minn.,
is escorted by a boat from the Chicago Fire Department as they prepare
to moor at Chicago’s Navy Pier, Dec. 2, 2011. Alder’s crew is acting as
Chicago’s “Christmas Ship,” bringing more than 1,000 trees from northern
Michigan to be distributed by charity groups to Chicago-area families.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class George Degener.
In the last post, I talked about how misleading the stats were on a recent study of Post Secondary Education, and their earning potentials... this week I was sent this video which exemplifies this even more. The video is not of typical weather condition while working at sea, but this is the reality of the job. Having to put up with that, even before spending one once of your energy, praticing your craft - I don't think too many accountants have this kind of workplace.
Of course there is always the ice cold water to deal with as well, with two glaring examples served up this week, involving those hardy cold weather surviving Russians. One in the Pacific Ocean off Sakhalin, where an oil rig under tow, capsized after encountering heavy seas. And the other story in the Antarctic, where the Sparta, a large fishing boat with predominately Russian crew, is teetering on sinking after suffering a gash in its hull, and taking on water.
The rig Kolskaya with a crew of 69 capsized and has taken the lives of 14 men, with another 39 still missing. The Sparta appears to be stabilizing, but the story is nowhere near complete, with 32 crew members fighting to save their ship, in the most desolate area of the world.
Makes me very thankful to be home, warm and safe, and sad to think of the loss and stress borne by the families of those affected.
Earlier this year, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce published a study called “What’s it worth? The economic value of college majors”. It’s a US based study, but probably relates fairly well across to Canada, and some other countries.
The thing that caught my engineering eye in this study, was that Marine Engineering / Naval Architecture was listed in the top ten for earnings. Listed below, are the "majors", and their resulting median income in USD.
Petroleum Engineering - 120,000
Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration - 105,000
Mathematics and Computer Science - 98,000
Aerospace Engineering - 87,000
Chemical Engineering - 86,000
Electrical Engineering - 85,000
Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering - 82,000
Mechanical Engineering - 80,000
Metallurgical Engineering - 80,000
Mining and Mineral Engineering - 80,000
The top ten least earning degrees were…
Counseling Psychology - 29,000
Early Childhood Education - 36,000
Theology and Religious Vocations - 38,000
Human Services and Community Organization - 38,000
Social Work - 39,000
Drama and Theater Arts - 40,000
Studio Arts - 40,000
Communication Disorders Sciences and Service - 40,000
Visual and Performing Arts - 40,000
Health and Medical Preparatory Programs - 40,000
The median income refers to the average income of the highest 75 percentile income and lowest 25 percentile. In regards to Marine Engineering, there is a much wider margin between “25%” stated as 44,000, and “75%” level income stated as 120,000, as oppose to the other in the top ten list.
The report fails to highlight the fact that although the 75th percentile make an average 120k per year, it takes a long time to get there, due to the licensing system. This would explain the lower 25th percentile earnings of 40k a year. Typically (my rough average from the numbers in the study) most graduates of other programs jump right into a 55k per year job, whereas Marine Engineers start at 40k or below.
Another words, yes, the potential to earn a good wage from the Marine Engineering / Naval Architecture schooling program is good, but getting out of school, is just the beginning of the training. Therefore, caution is in order, to hype these wages. Just looking at the topical earning potential does not give a complete story of the training path and its demands.
This unexplained career training load would probably explain why this major is ranked #4 in the least popular despite these fancy earnings potentials.
The study also reveals some other facts about a major in Marine Engineering / Naval Architecture. It is at the top of the list for concentration of men - 97% of the program participants were men. It also ranks #3 as the top earning major for Caucasians, and ranks #8 as percentage of working full time, with 95% of graduates holding full time jobs.
The study also list Marine Engineers and Naval Architect’s occupation, although once again, I believe these numbers are not quite accurate, due to titles and perceptions of the job. They list as us as working - engineers (?) 31%, management 22%, working on installations 12% - these three could be interpreted as working on ships or offshore structures – typically what Marine Engineers do. An additional 9% are listed working in offices, and 7% working in sales.
Some interesting statistic, but like I believe they don’t paint a clear picture of the full career. Marine Engineers already know, this is a pretty solid job when it comes to returns on your learning investment. You can find the full report here; an interesting read.
Submitted by a www.dieselduck.net visitor - thanks!
On a side note...
Time Magazine did a "Top Ten" list presentation on this topic, and they had a picture associated with each of the top, and bottom earning majors.
8 of the pictures for the “top majors” were generally positive in nature, and depicted men at work - another picture was of machinery. The only woman featured in the associated “positive” pictures, although hard to tell, is standing in lab attire, next to a man.
Meanwhile, eight of the bottom ten occupations predominately featured women in somewhat uninteresting work circumstances. Gotta love that entrenched societal sexism; bit of a sad social commentary.
Time Magazine – been around forever, and still has the attitudes to prove it. The picture is from that website.
Desgagnes Tanker division is under strike action by it's shipboard officers, engineers and navigators.
Desgagnes is a well known Canadian shipping company, based out of Quebec City. They operate a mix fleet of bulkers, roros, general cargo, heavy lift and tankers in the Eastern Arctic trade, down into the Great Lakes, and all point in between.
The tankers division, known as Petronav, and based out of Montreal, operates primarily in the central Canadian market - St Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and Atlantic Canada - although they have one tanker in international trade.
I believe the strike started last week, but you will find very few people aware of the situation, strangely enough. Sources say that the officers represented by the Canadian Merchant Service Guild (aka The Guild) are looking for significant wage increases, while the company is only offering wages increases matching inflation rates. Word on the street, as long been that Desgagnes' wages for engineers are considered low, compared to other operators, so this blogger is not surprise at the demand.
Engineers aboard Desgagnes tankers were, until early 2011, represented by the Canadian Marine Officers Union (CMOU), but they have now moved representations to the Guild.
The tankers in the fleet, and how they are affected...
Vega Desgagnes - Out on scheduled maintenance and not currently affected by strike
Maria Desgagnes - Out on scheduled maintenance and not currently affected by strike
Thalassa Desgagnes - Sailing, using Senior Officers from other vessels to crew
Jana Desgagnes - Still under Rigel management and not affected by strike
Dara Desgagnes - Still under Rigel management and not affected by strike
Esta Desgagnes - Still under Rigel management and not affected by strike
Sarah Desgagnes - Crewed by non Canadians and not affected by strike
McClearys Spirit is under charter from a separate owner and operator, and is not affected
Desgagnes and CMSG's websites are lacking any formal announcements and notices. Emails to the Guilds for clarifications have gone unanswered.
Some days, I have to do allot of mental exercise, coming up with a catchy title to my posts. But hey, this one was probably the easiest I've ever had to come up with.
Anyways, I came across an interesting article the other day; quite comical really. In my experience working on cruise ships, I estimate we had well over 2000 toilets, and very few problems. But only as long as you had a few good engineers in the engine room, looking after the main components, and a few good Filipino plumbers who knew the layout well, we hardly ever had ran into any major problems, not quickly addressed.
The US Navy guys on the other hand, seem to have their pants... huh, hands, full. All that, some neat gizmos, and a $6.2 billion USD, yes, billion, price tag.
Armed with this story, and these problems, someone clever might be able to make some really good jokes from their nickname, "Avenger" or their motto, "Freedom at work".
The George H. Bush, a US Navy Nimitz class aircraft carier, has recently entered active service, having been built by Northrop Grumman Newport News. Powered by two nuclear reactors, the four propulsion turbines put out, officially, 194 MW of power to the shafts. She's got a 20 year range, at 30 knots; shes also armed to the teeth... and has a slight yellowish navy Gray paint job.
Geez, I can only imagine the plumbers on my old ship "salivating" at that kind of power available, you could really get a fancy vacuum pump for that ! Anyways, below is the story, from The Register, the original story in the Navy Time is here. Here's the Bush's official DOD website.
US nuclear aircraft carrier George Bush crippled by toilet outages Sailors drenched as bottles of piss emptied into wind By Lewis Page, 17th November 2011
The US Navy's newest and mightiest nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS George H W Bush*, has been plagued by continual failures in its lavatories, according to reports. Sailors have been forced into increasingly desperate measures to relieve themselves. Nov 11, 2011: USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) transits the Arabian Gulf in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn.
The Navy Times, following up initial stories of the problems appearing on blogs, quotes members of the 5,000-strong ship's complement as stating that at times there hasn't been a single working head – as lavs are known at sea – anywhere aboard the entire mighty hundred-thousand-ton warship. Reportedly the Bush is fitted with no less than 423 thrones, but it appears that problems with the suction flushing system can easily knock out large numbers of these at once – or even all of them.
According to the NT's unnamed sources, crewpersons aboard the carrier have struggled to cope with the situation. It seems that desperate sailors must often hunt for long periods to find a functioning head, and if they do discover one there may be a lengthy queue. Some of the unfortunate matelots have apparently resorted to urinating in sinks or showers, or in some cases off the towering sides of the ship (parts of it are as high above the waves as a 20-story building). The latter is a risky practice, however, as it is against regulations: at least one sailor has been put under punishment for doing so.
Other Bush crewmen have reportedly taken to the use of bottles in some private location, following which the containers are smuggled to a suitable point for surreptitious tipping overboard. Unfortunately this "can soil the side of the ship or the hangar deck, aircraft or fellow sailors, depending on how it catches the wind", the NT reports.
According to a statement supplied to the naval newspaper, there are breakdowns in the Bush's heads three or four times a day, though many of these only involve a few units and can be fixed relatively swiftly. Nonetheless the ship's engineering personnel have expended no less than 10,000 man-hours on fixing busted bogs during the carrier's current overseas deployment. It was admitted that one ship-wide breakdown required a 35-hour effort to fix, with the relevant technicians working flat out throughout with no rest. Naval commanders blamed the problems on inappropriate objects such as clothes or feminine hygiene products being flushed down the heads. The $6.2bn George Bush, when functioning on top line, is perhaps the most powerful warship in the world. Its air group of more than 90 planes and choppers could defeat many national air forces or navies on its own, and it can steam at a speedboat-like 30+ knots for 20 years without refuelling.
However it must be suspected that the mighty vessel's efficiency is somewhat degraded at the moment.
*41, not 43... Named not after the recent US president but his father, also president back in the early '90s, who saw combat as a carrier aviator in World War II.
