News about Incident Involving the Containership MOL Comfort

TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President: Koichi Muto) updates the status of the containership MOL Comfort as of 23:00 JST (18:00 Dubai time) on June 25, 2013. The vessel could not continue sailing under its own power from June 17 because the hull fractured in 2 parts while under way on the Indian Ocean.

Vessel

The fore part is located near 15'43"N 69'07"E. The aft part is drifting near 14'03"N 65'30"E in an east-northeast direction. The weather at the site is still adverse.

Containers (No change from Jun 25, 2013)

Some of the containers were lost, but majority of the cargo are confirmed to be aboard the fore and aft part.

Rescue of the cargo and hulls

We have contracted with a salvage company and are proceeding to rescue the cargo and hulls. The four boats arrived at the site on June 24. We have started to tow the fore part toward Arabian Gulf. We will continue to monitor the aft part and prepare for the tow operation.

Oil leakage

We confirmed no oil film around the fore part. For the aft part, there is oil film, but there is no large volume of oil leakage confirmed.

Safety inspection on sister vessels (No change from Jun 25, 2013)

We have started an investigation of the causes together with the shipbuilder, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (hereafter MHI). Although the cause of this incident has not been identified yet, MOL, together with MHI and the classification society (Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, ClassNK), is arranging inspection of the all six sister vessels (*) as quickly as possible. This inspection is in addition to the one carried out by the crew during navigation. MOL also started operational precautions to reduce the stress on the hull as an interim contingency plan.

(*) MOL Creation, MOL Charisma, MOL Celebration, MOL Courage, MOL Competence, MOL Commitment

Adapted from www.mol.co.jp

Initial Inspections show the fore part leans forward; drifting to India

Wednesday 26th of June 2013. Both halves of the damaged container ship MOL Comfort might be salvaged says Marius Bakker, who is team leader loss adjuster at Cunningham Lindsey in Rotterdam.

He says that based on the initial inspections carried out by team of professionals of Smit Salvage and Nippon on Monday with patrol and rescue vessels arrived near the parts of the damaged container vessel MOL Comfort.

According to the information of Marius Baker, a Sri Lankan tug vessel Capricorn has arrived at the front part of the damaged container ship MOL Comfort to conduct an inspection of the vessel's part condition. The team of professionals established that the vessel's half true 3 metres leans forward (with the head down drives), but that a bulkhead is in order. "And this is a good news for storage. It looks like pretty good."

CAPRICORN:

Ship Type: Anchor handling vessel. Year Built: 1985. Length x Breadth: 60 m X 14 m. Gross Tonnage: 1413, DeadWeight: 1884 t. Speed recorded (Max / Average): 7.7 / 7.7 knots. Flag: Sri Lanka [LK] . Call Sign: 4RCT. IMO: 8411683, MMSI: 417222375. Draught: 6 m
 

Ex Names History: Northern Comrade - 2012-11, ARILD VIKING - 1997-01-29, KING SUPPLIER - 1989-11-03. SCHELDE - 1988-03-25, BALDER SCHELDE - 1985-07-10.

Home port: Colombo. Class society: Det Norske Veritas. Build year: 1985. Builder*: Scheepswerf Waterhuizen J.pattje - Waterhuizen, Netherlands
Owner: Lanka Maritime Services
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Manager: Lanka Maritime Services
Colombo, Sri Lanka

Last Known Port: COLOMBO

The other tug vessel Pacific Terrier is elsewhere on the Arabian Sea on the other, rear part of the broken on 2 parts MOL Comfort. "This part also looks to be good," stated Marius Bakker. "From this part of the engine room is still in tact, and it's the part with the most buoyancy."

PACIFIC TERRIER:

Photographer: Vladimir Knyaz

Ship Type: Anchor handling vessel. Year Built: 2007. Length x Breadth: 42 m X 12 m. Gross Tonnage: 537, DeadWeight: 381 t. Speed recorded (Max / Average): 5.2 / 5.2 knots. Flag: Singapore [SG] . Call Sign: 9V 7036. IMO: 9419333, MMSI: 565495000. Draught: 3.2 m

Ex Names History: DALINI DIAMOND - 2007-10-26. Class society: American Bureau Of Shipping
Builder*: Wuxi Shipyard - Wuxi, China. Owner: Swire Pacific Offshore - Singapore. Manager: Swire Pacific Offshore - Singapore

Last Known Port: JEBEL ALI.

The distance among both parts of the damaged container vessel MOL Comfort, both the direction of driving India, is growing day by day. The front part is so hard, which would be run, as the tug vessel wouldn't have been there (around 195 nautical miles).

If the salvage operation would indeed get underway with success is still the question of which port is ready to receive the parts of the container ship MOL Comfort says Marius Bakker.
by VesselFinder

Adapted from: www.vesselfinder.com/news