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THE SCRAP HEAP
Trailing behind the list
of oil rigs making their way to the breakers are numbers of offshore support
vessels, some of them early Maersk anchor-handlers which in their day were
state of the art, but even then complex and difficult to keep going.
Top of this list are probably the Maersk Master and Maersk Mariner, and it
was reported the other day that the Maersk Mariner has gone to the breakers.
These two vessels were a unique design, with a hatch forward of the
accommodation and an open deck aft. Tucked in behind the accommodation was a
winch with a vast wire capacity which made the ships very popular when it
came to do deeper water rig moves before the turn of the century.
Offshore support vessels
with cargo space forward are not unique, but they are very unusual. In the
late 1970s OIL built the Oil Challenger which was a pipe carrier with the
accommodation perched over the poop, but which turned out to be incompatible
with the pipe layer for which it was constructed, the Viking Piper, and so
was purchased by Heerema as a heavy lift carrier. More recently a few all
aft platform ships the VS 493 Avants have been built, and apparently
operated with some success.
These more recent
constructions have been easier to operate because of the general
availability of dynamic positioning to hold the vessels within range of
offshore cranes. A DP1 system was used for a while on the Maersk M class in
conjunction with some Shell platforms. This consisted of some sort of video
recording system, which maintained the image in the same position. But
apparently there was a tendency for the ship to change position when the
crane lift passed through the picture. My own theory is that the design was
intended to accommodate the stuff which oil rigs had to unload to get up on
the pontoons for a shift, because in the 70s it all had to carted ashore,
but by the time the ships entered service the rigs had mostly been modified
to carry a bigger deck load.
THE CAPTAIN'S COLUMN
We seem to have an ongoing need to record what
is happening to ship masters who have made errors resulting in loss of life
on board their vessels, and this month the prosecution in the case of the
Costa Concordia accident has asked that the Captain be sentenced to 26 years
in prison. The admission by the Moldovan dancer who was on the Bridge at the
time of the accident that she and the Captain were lovers, on the threat of
being charged herself, might not have done him any good, but he will have to
wait until after his defence lawyers final statement on 9th February to find
out what his actual fate may be. The news articles which have made this
information available on the internet have also stated that none of the
other crew members who pleaded guilty and who were sentenced to periods in
prison are actually serving time. For me this is slightly reassuring, they
were essentially innocent bystanders when the Captain took charge
AN EARLY OIL RIG DISASTER
AThe Mr Charlie built
in 19565, probably similar to the Mr K. Photo: Kenny Polson..
I am
currently compiling a book about offshore disasters and for interest include
this report, of an accident in 1957. This might be the earliest accident to
a mobile unit.
The
drilling barge Mr K was according to the report “an uninspected mobile
drilling platform”. The unit consisted of a hull on which were mounted a
number of columns, which were topped by a deck on which was mounted the
drilling derrick, the accommodation, the helideck and a storage area for
tubulars and chemicals, and within which was storage for mud, the pumping
systems and the generators. It had been designed and built by the Bethlehem
Steel Company in 1956 for drilling in water depths not exceeding 14 feet.
The unit was 164 feet long and 54 feet wide. Ballast tanks in the lower hull
allowed it to be floated, and sunk to rest on the seabed. There were also
tanks in the hull for fuel, ballast and fresh water. The derrick was located
at the stern and below it in the lower hull was a slot which allowed
drilling to take place. It was owned and operated by Golden Meadow Well
Service Company.
There were
two tugs employed to move the rig from its location. The first, the Itco II
was a 63 foot diesel tug built in 1956 and owned by the Independent Towing
company the second, the Madeline was an almost identical vessel owned by
Franklin Towing Company and chartered by Otto Candies. Neither of the tug
masters were formally qualified and they had limited experience of towing
drilling barges in the open sea.
On April
15th the barge was positioned on a prepared bed of shells in order to carry
out drilling activities. The derrick was raised in its operational position
and the barge was loaded with tubulars and equipment for its forthcoming
drilling programme. The liquids in tanks were estimated at being between one
foot and three feet, with the fuel tank being two thirds full. The fresh
water tanks which contained about three feet of water were interconnected by
open valves. The estimates of the volumes in the tanks were based on the
times when the pumps lost suction. Although the barge was provided with
sounding pipes, no soundings were taken, or actually had ever been taken.
The report
says that the barge was “continuously occupied in the accommodation
there-on”, and that there were five people sleeping at the time of the
casualty. This remark reflects the situation in the gulf at the time, when
the drilling facilities were in general close inshore and that many were not
actually provided with living accommodation. Although there was some
disagreement amongst the survivors, the report accepted that there were 20
lifejackets, three lifefloats and a number of lifebuoys on board. The rig
was not provided with a general alarm system or a Station Bill.
On April
16th 1957 adverse weather caused deformation of the foundation and therefore
the charterers, the Humble Oil Company, decided that the barge should be
moved to Joseph’s Bayou, while it was rebuilt. This resulted in a
requirement to move the rig the following day and by 0900 it was afloat with
a draught of six feet and two tugs attached, but to everyone’s surprise at
0940, it rapidly capsized and remained afloat upside down.
Subsequent to the capsize Coast Guard aircraft and vessels searched for
survivors. These included one fixed wing aircraft, two helicopters and two
patrol boats. Although the investigation does not precisely how those who
survived were rescued, or how the bodies of those who died were recovered,
some detail of the manner in which the upturned barge was returned to port
is included, but is unimportant in this narrative.
The
investigators did not have a problem in determining the cause of the
accident, which was loss of stability. The combination of a greater than
usual deck load, the fact that the derrick was in the operational rather
than stowed position, and the slack tanks in the lower hull was sufficient,
they thought, to cause the capsize.
Since the
barge had been moved several times before successfully, it appeared that the
problem had been operational, and as the report says, approvals and
inspections during construction will not eliminate operational errors
stemming from a lack of knowledge of stability. The investigators suggested
that there were particular problems during the time when the unit was being
ballasted up or down, and that the barge had been designed for inland waters
rather than for the unprotected seas of the Gulf of Mexico. They also
determined that possibly the tug masters were under-experienced, and
unqualified particularly since they had displayed a lack of knowledge of
“piloting” and the use of the nautical chart.
It also
became apparently during the investigation that the supervisory personnel on
board the Mr K were primarily experienced in drilling, and that none were
aware of the dangers relating to ballasting, de-ballasting and the operation
of the vessel in open waters.
By then
the industry and the regulatory bodies involved in the offshore business
were studying these particular difficulties, and they suggested that any
procedures and systems under development should be considered to be
experimental. In fact, as a result of the studies a special committee
representing the industry drafted a document called “Manual for Safe
Operating Practices for Offshore Mobile Drilling Platforms”. This was
distributed in the industry for additional study and comment. This document
when complete would contain guidance on stability, ballasting,
de-ballasting, special hurricane procedures, manning, qualifications,
supervision and responsibilities.
The
investigators made a number of recommendations, initially in the short term
pending improvements in the regulations and guidance, that none, or a very
limited number of personnel should be on board these barges during tows,
that the derrick should be lowered to the horizontal position at all times
when under way and that a person with marine engineering experience and a
practical knowledge of stability be required to be in charge of mobile
platforms when preparing for and moving from one location to another.
More
formally they recommended that mobile platforms at sea, but less than three
miles from the coast should be subject to the same regulations as were in
place for platforms on the Outer Continental Shelf, and that those
regulations should be amended to include the approval of plans stability
tests and inspections during construction.
THE PIETER SCHELTE
The Ship departs Singapore
Allseras Pic..
I have
been saving the Pieter Schelte for a piece of good news since most of what I
publish in this newsletter is anything but. The ship recently arrived in
Rotterdam, and probably has done nothing yet. It is not all good news
though. If you type the name into Google you get articles suggesting that
the man after whom the ship is named was a Gestapo officer.
But lets
just check out the dimensions of this craft , and be amazed. It is 382
metres long excluding the pipelay stinger and 124 metres wide and has 95,000
kW available which is about 129000 bhp. It has berths for 571 people.
Its
lifting capability is awesome – yes it actually is awesome. It can lift a
platform topsides weighing 48,000 tonnes and a jacket (the part of the
platform in the sea) weighing 25,000 tonnes.
As a
secondary activity the ship is capable of laying pipe with its 210 metre
stinger fitted, and it can store 25,000 tons of pipe on the deck. This
capability makes it the largest and most powerful pipelayer in the world,
and far exceeding the capabilities of the Solitaire, also operated by
Allseas which previously held this record.
From an
operational view-point one assumes that everything it is supposed to do
remains a theory, and that someone will have written an Operations Manual
based on the probable activities and what the equipment is designed to do.
It would be interesting to see whether the reality matches the theory when
the ship enters service.
THE SHANNON E SETTON.
The Shannon E Setton on Fire.
US Coast Guard Picture.
Here’s a thing. You would hardly expect to be trucking along, pushing a
barge and making way towards a crude oil storage facility when you hit
something, and in no time at all you ship has exploded.
This is another story from the inland waterways of North America, which it
is quite difficult to believe. The tug and barge set was partially loaded
and hence was in its way to a storage facility in Bayou Perot to complete
the job. The Captain made for the facility which was three tanks mounted on
a barge in the end of what was described as “North Canal”.
But as the tug was approaching the end of the channel the Captain saw some
objects in the water and altered course. Immediately the tug hit an
underwater obstruction, and there was a disturbance in the water. The tug
had hit a gas pipeline. There was an explosion as the main engines took in
the gas, followed by a fire which engulfed the tug. Two of the crew made it
to the barge, another crew member and the Captain swam to the shore. The
Captain was badly burned and died about a month later in hospital. The US
NTSB report contains the following information:
Numerous active or abandoned oil and gas pipelines traverse this Louisiana
region. When installed the pipelines are surveyed to ensure that they are
buried at the appropriate depth. However, over time their coverage can
decrease due to storms shoreline changes etc, which makes voyage planning
challenging…Many pipelines in the region do not appear on standard
navigation charts and mariners do not know their exact locations.!!! (My
exclamation marks
INFORMATION ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER AND SHIPS AND OIL LTD
This newsletter expresses the views of the author Victor Gibson about marine
events which are considered to be worthy of interest. It is meant to be a
five minute read. Sources of information include:
International Tug and OSV Magazine
The Tugs, Towing and Offshore Newsletter.
The Nautilus Telegraph
The Nautical institute Magazine, Seaways
The BBC Home Page
The MAIB Website
gCaptain
World Maritime News
The Siberia Times
The Scotsman
Pravda
US National Transport Safety Board Reports
The Ships and Oil website contains comprehensive information about many
offshore vessels and approaching 10,000 images.
People have continued to send pictures of the day for which I am very
grateful. The photos brighten the days of our hundreds of visitors as they
sit at their desks – I have noticed that our numbers are considerably
reduced at the weekends. By the way I have been told that a number of
subscribers to the newsletter send it on to others – if you are one of the
others email me for your own copy!
I am gradually getting back on track with the Company updates after the
revision to the filing system on the website. Most of the changes will be
invisible to our visitors but hopefully they will provide a more enjoyable
experience for our visitors (So a bit of website speak as well!!).
So company updates this month are:
Hornbeck
L&M Botruc
Well, it’s a start.
Recent Pictures of the Day include:
EDT Hercules
Island Intervention
Toisa Explorer and Envoy
Maersk Mariner
SHIPS AND OIL OFFERS THE FOLLOWING PUBLICATION FOR SALE ON ITS WEBSITE:
THE HISTORY OF THE SUPPLY SHIP £37.50 inc P&P anywhere
SUPPLY SHIP OPERATIONS £27.50 inc P&P anywhere
RIGMOVES £5.75 inc P&P anywhere.
Buy all three books for the bargain price of £52.5
If you would prefer not to receive further news letters please email me vic@shipsandoil.com
.
Vic Gibson. Decemberr 2014.
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