Container Ship Capsizes in Belgian Port

[knottybuoyz]

Container Ship Capsizes in Belgian Port
Thursday, March 08, 2007

Photo Credit: International Marine Consultancy
According to the Herald Tribune, a large container ship capsized during loading Thursday in Belgian port city Antwerp, officials said. No injuries were reported. The cause of the capsizing of the Republica di Genova, a roll on/roll off vessel of the London-based Grimaldi Lines, was not immediately clear, authorities said. Grimaldi Group vessels carry containers and Fiat cars from Italy to Antwerp. Port of Antwerp Captain Jan Persi said the 215-meter-long (705-foot-long) vessel slowly rolled onto its starboard side in a dead end dock early in the morning. He said the ship began taking on water and that the captain ordered the crew to evacuate. The white-and-yellow vessel lay resting on its side, part of its hull above the waterline in the dock.

Shipping in and out of the Verrebroekdock was halted, but not on the Scheldt River that links Antwerp to the North Sea. Source: Herald Tribune

More photos here: Fishki.Net - Â ïîðòó Àíòâåðïåíà ïåðåâåðíóëîñü 216-ìåòðîâîå ñóäíî (42 ôîòî) | Ôèøêèíà Êàðòèíêà *warning* site is pretty slow.

[Sandero]

That's hysterical... One would think that being dockside they could have gotten to some huge pumps and mitigated the "leak". Odd that it capsized and did not just sink to the bottom.

It looks like a rather complex job to right this puppy and just pumping water at this point will probably be fruitless.

[Greg S]

Well, at least they can do half the bottom paint without a haulout!

[markpj23]

Most all of these big boys have a high-volume ballast system that they use to shift LOTS of water from side to side while loading / off-loading. Either the Mate was asleep at the switch, or the computer ran off on its own, or they had a pump / controller fail, etc....

Betcha THAT was a fun ride!!!

[hellosailor]

Confidential sources indicate that Auric Goldfinger was shipping those solid-gold cars again, Fiats this time instead of Rolls, and the discrepancy in weight versus the standard model caused the ship to heel past the point of no return.

[Lodesman]

Originally Posted by defjef

Odd that it capsized and did not just sink to the bottom.

I'd say it is on the bottom - normally not that deep in port.
From the state of her paint (particularly the bottom paint) I'd guess she just got out of dock - I bet some skin valves were left open and when they started loading they were submerged enough to start the flood.

[jim lee]

I noticed the bottom paint too. Sure does look clean.

-jim lee

[Tom967]

I know those container docks very well..as a Merchant Marine Officer...It was always the first port on the European run from the States...The vessel is more of a Roll on Roll off Ro/Ro..than a traditional container ship...It's like a down town indoor garage inside....The center of gravity is very high on these vessels...metacentric height very low.. Therefore Stability critical..When when KG exceeds KM..She'll tip over..obviouly the loading plan was faulty in relation to her ballast ....hydrostatically..bigger is not necessarily better or more stable... Doesn't take much on a ship like this.. although very rare occurance these days with computerized loading plans.

[Steve Rust]

Beware of a good deal on a new Fiat. You may want to check for barnacles under the hood.

[mudnut]

Not really to do with this story but while on the USS Enterprise as a visitor,we were told that if the hanger decks below aquired 1" of water over the deck she would roll over.Not sure how true that is but it sounds pretty scary.Mudnut.

[44'cruisingcat]

Bloody monohulls. Theyr'e always doing stuff like this.

AND it's a stinkboat .....

[hellosailor]

" if the hanger decks below aquired 1" of water over the deck she would roll"
I'm guessing the hangar decks, high above waterline, could only "acquire" an inch of water during inclement wx while energetic fire control action was being performed, adding a lot of water on deck?

[mudnut]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

" if the hanger decks below aquired 1" of water over the deck she would roll"
I'm guessing the hangar decks, high above waterline, could only "acquire" an inch of water during inclement wx while energetic fire control action was being performed, adding a lot of water on deck?

Yep ,that makes sense,and they have someone checking on that all the time.Another funny thing I thought,In the R.A.Navy,a CPO.stands for Chief Petty Officer,In the USN it's something like coffee percilator officer.His whole shift on the Enterprise is to check and fill all the coffee stations aboard the ship.WOW,there is a career.Mudnut.

[Boracay]

Assuming the deck is 300m long and 40m wide a depth of 1 inch (.025m) would give a volume of 300 cu. m. or rather more than 300 tonnes of water.

Evenly distributed it would make no difference.

However even if all of that water were to run to one side I would be surprised if this would cause an inclination of more than one degree in a boat of that size, though a Naval Architect could give a better comment.

After all, that is only the weight of 15 or so containers, or could be a single wave.

[Dunkers]

Chris, its the fact that is free flowing water that causes the instability. The Herald of Free Enterprise, a North Sea ferry capsized just after leaving the dock because water came in through the open bow doors. There was very little depth to the water and it was relatively low down. Nevertheless it was free flowing water that caused a disaster in which over a hundred people were killed.