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Ship overturns near Georgia port; 4 crew members missing

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September 08, 2019, 04:16 PM
Pipe Smoker
Ship overturns near Georgia port; 4 crew members missing
“The U.S. Coast Guard says rescuers are looking for four crew members who are unaccounted for after a vessel overturned near a Georgia port.

The Golden Ray cargo ship ran into trouble early Sunday when it listed heavily in St. Simon Sound shortly as it was leaving Brunswick.

The Coast Guard says there were 23 crew members and one pilot on board.

All but four crew members have been safely evacuated from the ship, a 656-foot vehicle carrier…”

https://mol.im/a/7440627



Don’t argue with fools.
September 08, 2019, 04:46 PM
LS1 GTO
Somewhere a sailor is thinking "I wonder if I closed that valve..."






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



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The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



September 08, 2019, 04:48 PM
Jimbo54
Wow, that is one big ass ship.



Jim


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September 08, 2019, 04:52 PM
Johnny 3eagles
Somewhere someone is wondering when he will get his car delivered





If you're goin' through hell, keep on going.
Don't slow down. If you're scared don't show it.
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September 08, 2019, 04:55 PM
LS1 GTO
quote:
Originally posted by Johnny 3eagles:
Somewhere someone is wondering when he will get his car delivered


Custom built Ford GT






Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.



"If dogs don't go to Heaven, I want to go where they go" Will Rogers

The definition of the words we used, carry a meaning of their own...



September 08, 2019, 04:56 PM
cgode
I was down there fishing last fall for a week....the ships in and out of there are huge!! Mostly all vehicle coming in with vast parking lots of tens of thousands of vehicles that have been off loaded. It’s an impressive port.


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September 08, 2019, 05:28 PM
HayesGreener
What catastrophic failure could cause a ship of that size to tip over like that?


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September 08, 2019, 05:32 PM
corsair
quote:
Originally posted by HayesGreener:
What catastrophic failure could cause a ship of that size to tip over like that?


It happened within the waterway of the Port of Brunswick on the way to Baltimore, easy assumption is either internal cargo shifted, which would be a lot to do that (platform collapse?) or, weight was gained on one side, like ballast tanks or, structural voids took on water unintentionally, either some kind of opening or, fighting fire and water used wasn't/couldn't be shifted.
September 08, 2019, 05:41 PM
jimmy123x
quote:
Originally posted by HayesGreener:
What catastrophic failure could cause a ship of that size to tip over like that?


It definitely experienced a sudden shift in stability. The fact that it happened just after leaving port is very strange. These RORO (Roll On Roll Off) vessels are nicknamed in the Industry "Roll On Roll Over" because they're a bit tender with so much windage and being so tall. These vessels have ballast tanks that they flood in order to keep the boat level and account for a list (too much weight on one side) depending on the cargo they're carrying. It's possible a tank suddenly drained, or got filled when it was not supposed to. A flooding of a compartment, a shift in cargo (which I'd find odd as they were in a generally calm body of water), a fire that the crew tried fighting with sea water, flooding in a section of the vessel, any number of things could cause this to happen and at this point who knows. On these vessels, they try to get them in and out of the port as quick as possible and it's absolutely amazing to watch how fast they get loaded, a lot of times they leave small details (such as adding more lashings/tie downs) to finish up while they're underway and leaving port if it's calm offshore.
September 08, 2019, 07:04 PM
fvyellowbird
quote:
Originally posted by corsair:
quote:
Originally posted by HayesGreener:
What catastrophic failure could cause a ship of that size to tip over like that?


It happened within the waterway of the Port of Brunswick on the way to Baltimore, easy assumption is either internal cargo shifted, which would be a lot to do that (platform collapse?) or, weight was gained on one side, like ballast tanks or, structural voids took on water unintentionally, either some kind of opening or, fighting fire and water used wasn't/couldn't be shifted.




Hell, is other people! J-P S
September 08, 2019, 07:08 PM
fvyellowbird
quote:
Originally posted by corsair:
quote:
Originally posted by HayesGreener:
What catastrophic failure could cause a ship of that size to tip over like that?


It happened within the waterway of the Port of Brunswick on the way to Baltimore, easy assumption is either internal cargo shifted, which would be a lot to do that (platform collapse?) or, weight was gained on one side, like ballast tanks or, structural voids took on water unintentionally, either some kind of opening or, fighting fire and water used wasn't/couldn't be shifted.


FYI, this is nowhere near the Port of Baltimore, Brunswick is in Georgia. We watched the ship head in yesterday afternoon while at the beach on Saint Simons Island, woke to see that it had rolled over on its way back out of port in the early morning. Still 4 crewmen missing, supposedly trapped in the engine room.



Hell, is other people! J-P S
September 08, 2019, 07:46 PM
Balzé Halzé
quote:
Originally posted by fvyellowbird:
Still 4 crewmen missing, supposedly trapped in the engine room.


It's always the engineers who get left behind in these sort of incidents. ~sigh~

I hate RORO ships. Besides the fact that they're butt-ass ugly, they are notoriously unstable as Jimmy described. Too many possibilities as to what caused the sudden instability. It could be something as stupid as a crew member forgetting that he was transfering ballast. The investigation will surely find the answer though.


~Alan

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September 08, 2019, 08:19 PM
creedbratton2
Silly question, but would it be cheaper to move the cars via rail from GA to MD?
September 08, 2019, 08:23 PM
MikeinNC
quote:
Originally posted by creedbratton2:
Silly question, but would it be cheaper to move the cars via rail from GA to MD?


If it was, that is what they would do.



"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” Robert A. Heinlein

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September 08, 2019, 08:30 PM
creedbratton2
Fair enough.
September 08, 2019, 08:44 PM
Balzé Halzé
You must consider as well the time it would take to load the hundreds of railcars with cars compared to a RORO ship. In regards to the ship, they can load and unload cars off of that thing very quickly.


~Alan

Acta Non Verba
NRA Life Member (Patron)
God, Family, Guns, Country

Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan

September 08, 2019, 09:03 PM
RAMIUS
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
You must consider as well the time it would take to load the hundreds of railcars with cars compared to a RORO ship. In regards to the ship, they can load and unload cars off of that thing very quickly.


Do people drive the cars off or are they unloaded another way?
September 08, 2019, 09:07 PM
Beancooker
quote:
Originally posted by RAMIUS:
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
You must consider as well the time it would take to load the hundreds of railcars with cars compared to a RORO ship. In regards to the ship, they can load and unload cars off of that thing very quickly.


Do people drive the cars off or are they unloaded another way?


Drive on, drive off.



quote:
Originally posted by sigmonkey:
I'd fly to Turks and Caicos with live ammo falling out of my pockets before getting within spitting distance of NJ with a firearm.
September 08, 2019, 09:11 PM
Balzé Halzé
quote:
Originally posted by RAMIUS:
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
You must consider as well the time it would take to load the hundreds of railcars with cars compared to a RORO ship. In regards to the ship, they can load and unload cars off of that thing very quickly.


Do people drive the cars off or are they unloaded another way?


Driven, and not gently. The longshoreman drive these cars on as fast as they can and off as fast as they can.

In Long Beach, while a cadet a Container/RORO ship, I witnessed a longshoreman wrap a Lamborghini around a cargo hold stanchion. Oops. Well nevermind, onto the the next car.


~Alan

Acta Non Verba
NRA Life Member (Patron)
God, Family, Guns, Country

Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan

September 08, 2019, 09:13 PM
jimmy123x
quote:
Originally posted by RAMIUS:
quote:
Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
You must consider as well the time it would take to load the hundreds of railcars with cars compared to a RORO ship. In regards to the ship, they can load and unload cars off of that thing very quickly.


Do people drive the cars off or are they unloaded another way?


The Roro's have a ramp that goes on land and it's like a parking garage inside with many different levels and they usually have a bunch of people driving them on (or off) and they come off of their or on pretty damn quickly. It's amazing, the port looks like a mall parking lot on Christmas in a matter of hours.

As for why not ship them by rail. Chances are, the cars were already on the ship from wherever they were manufactured. They might have a different make of cars that got offloaded in Brunswick, then just a quick hop to MD to unload the rest. Unloading them, moving them to a rail car, loading and securing them on the rail car and then waiting for a train to pick up the rail cars would probably take longer.

Most RORO's are registered in foreign countries and with the Jones act, they can discharge in multiple U.S. ports, but they can only pick up/load cargo in one U.S. port before going to a foreign port and clearing in/out, before going to another U.S. port to load more cargo. U.S. flagged ships can load/unload in multiple ports and there is no restriction on how many times. The downside is in order to be U.S. flagged, it has to be a U.S. built ship, and a U.S. build ship costs 3x (or more) what it costs to have a ship built in a foreign country...…..

Edited to add: This ship was built in 2017.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jimmy123x,