In June 2013, the container vessel MOL Comfort couldn’t continue sailing under its own power because the vessel’s hull suffered a serious crack while sailing on the Indian Ocean. The container ship was fractured in 2 parts, fore and aft, according to Vessel Finder.
Shipping lines may appreciate cost savings from so-called mega-ships, but for those who sail them, bigger ships can mean bigger risks.Aftermath of the sinking of the MOL Comfort
Captain Michael Lloyd, a retired British naval and merchant ship commander, said the length and size of the newest container ships, combined with rougher weather at sea, makes catastrophic accidents such as the loss of the MOL Comfort in 2013 increasingly likely.
“We’ve never before had ships just snapping in half, but as the weather deteriorates, we’re going to see more of it,” Lloyd said during a panel discussion on mega-vessels and risk. Lloyd, who spent more than 50 years at sea and commanded containerships for 10 years, referred to predictions of increased hurricanes and storms caused by global climate change.
Both former captains urged enforcement of the new container weight provisions of the Safety of Life at Sea convention, by far the most controversial topic at the conference. Those provisions would make shippers responsible for providing verified container weights to carriers.
“Make sure it’s implemented, because it’s critical to the safety of the vessel,” Kinsey said. “If we start putting containers on that are heavier than declared, our stability calculations are useless and we do not know the stresses that are going on that ship,” said Lloyd.
