MV BULGARIA: Captain fined for failing to help passengers

The captain of a vessel that passed by the sinking Bulgaria cruise ship without stopping to help rescue drowning passengers was fined, but avoided jail time, Interfax reported.

A district court in Tatarstan ruled that Yury Tuchin failed to provide help to victims of the July disaster on the Volga River, in which 122 people died when the 55-year-old Bulgaria foundered in a storm.

Tuchin, skipper of the Arbat dry cargo ship, pleaded guilty to not stopping to collect survivors, but said he had only done so because his ship risked crushing the lifeboats.

The prosecution asked to jail the 60-year-old sailor for 14 months and ban him from working on ships for three years afterward, but the court only fined Tuchin 130,000 rubles ($4,200), the report said. Neither party said Monday whether it planned to appeal.

A similar case against the captain of the Dunaisky-66 towboat is under review in a Kazan court. Several officials and the head of the company that leased the decrepit Bulgaria also face charges over the disaster.

Source: The Moscow Times

INCIDENTS: MAIB releases report on Queen Mary 2 explosion

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released the result of its investigations into a failure of a capacitor, part of the diesel-electric propulsion system of the cruise ship ‘Queen Mary 2’.

The MAIB feels that there are lessons that the industry should learn from this incident, which resulted in an explosion onboard,so has asked for our help in promulgating the information.

At 0425 on 23 September 2010, as the passenger liner Queen Mary 2 (QM2) was approaching Barcelona, a loud explosion was heard from the direction of the aft main switchboard (MSB) room. Within a few seconds, all four of the podded propulsion motors shut down. A few seconds later, the vessel suffered an electrical blackout. Thick black smoke was seen to be coming from the aft MSB room. Fortunately, the vessel was clear of navigational hazards and no one was injured.

By 0439, the crew had confirmed that the explosion had taken place in the aft harmonic filter (HF) which was situated in a compartment next to the aft MSB room. After establishing with thermal imaging cameras that there were no hot spots, they ventilated the area and isolated the aft HF and MSB from the rest of the 11000 volt electrical network. The crew were able to restore some electrical power supplies and, by 0523,QM2 was underway using two propulsion motors powered from the forward MSB. Subsequent inspection of the aft HF revealed that one of its capacitors had failed catastrophically due to internal over-pressure and another had developed a severe bulge.

The vessel had a history of HF capacitor failures, at an average rate of one per year. Although the exact cause of the capacitor failures could not be determined, it was concluded that capacitor degradation was probably caused by a combination of transient high voltage spikes due to frequent switching operations and occasional network over-voltage fluctuations. The capacitor deterioration had not been detected, and because there were no internal fuses or pressure relief devices, it had continued until the capacitor casing failed catastrophically.

Although the aft HF circuit breaker disconnected the HF from the rest of the electrical network to isolate the electrical fault, the disruption was likely to have caused electrical instability in the electrical network which led to the loss of propulsion and blackout. The vessel’s alarm logs were found to contain early warnings about the impending failure approximately 36 minutes before the accident. However, as the vessel’s alarm systems regularly logged more than one alarm every minute, this information was not seen and could not be acted upon.

The only protection against catastrophic failure of the capacitors was a current imbalance detection system. It consisted of a current transformer which was connected to the capacitor circuit. Under normal conditions, little or no current should have flowed through the transformer. When a capacitor degraded, the current flow across the circuit became unbalanced and induced a current in the transformer’s secondary winding. The system was set to give an alarm when the imbalance reached 400mA and to trip at 800mA.After the accident, the transformer’s windings were found to have failed. There had not been any alarms on this part of the system for several years and it was likely that the imbalance detection system had not worked for some time.

This caused the alarm display to read 0mA giving a false indication that the capacitors were in good condition. Although detection of an unbalanced current was the only protection system for the harmonic filters, it had no backup and did not fail safe. Routine tests of the system were by the secondary current injection method, and by-passed the transformer.

Source: http://www.motorship.com/news101/maib-reports-on-qm2-explosion

CRUISE SHIPPING: One dead, several ill on board Holland America ship

A US tourist died aboard a cruise liner that docked in the port of Rio de Janeiro today after 79 people aboard became sickened by a mystery illness.

The woman died aboard the MS Veendam, a luxury vessel owned by the US cruise company Holland America Line. The ship sailed from Valparaiso, Chile and docked in Rio with 1800 people on board.

Police said they were awaiting a report from forensic doctors about the woman’s death and they had no word on her identity. But government news agency Agencia Brasil reported that there was no indication her death was related to the health scare.

Federal police, who are investigating the case, said they had been told by the Veendam’s doctor that the woman likely died of natural causes, Agencia Brasil said.

Ronaldo Azaro, tourism secretary for the state of Rio de Janeiro, said Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) had been informed that there was a health issue aboard the ship when the vessel left Valparaiso and later stopped over in Uruguay.

Mr Azaro said at least 72 passengers and seven crew members were affected by an unspecified ailment on the journey from Chile.

Anvisa officials who boarded the ship when it docked in Rio today found only two people still showed symptoms of intestinal discomfort, Mr Azaro said.

He said there was no risk the Rio population could become ill.

Local newspapers reported that during the journey, ship authorities issued a red alert, ordering the closure of the swimming pool and the library and calling on passengers to wash their hands every two hours.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/us-tourist-dies-on-cruise-ship-passengers-reported-ill/story-e6frfku0-1226203187344#ixzz1eTKbEyoZ

MARITIME | Tugboat arrives at disabled Carnival Cruise ship

One tugboat has arrived, and another was en route Tuesday to help 4,400 people on a Carnival Cruise ship stranded off the coast of Mexico after an onboard fire Monday.

Once both tugs arrive to assist the Carnival Splendor, located about 200 miles south of San Diego, they will begin towing the ship to Ensenada, Mexico, said Carnival Cruise Lines spokesman Vance Gulliksen.

“There were efforts to repair the propulsion system in the ship’s engines, but they failed,” Juan Tintos, tourism secretary for Baja California, said Tuesday morning. “With the plan to ferry the ship to Ensenada, there are now three tug boats on site, and the fourth is expected to arrive shortly.”

Tintos said the tug boat crews wouldn’t begin their work until the current is right, so the cruise ship wouldn’t have to travel against the current.

“They are estimating that they should be arriving in Ensenada (Wednesday) evening,” he added. Guests will be returned to California via buses, the spokesman said.

Passengers who are Southern California residents would be taken to Long Beach, while the others would be taken to the airport of their choice for travel back home. Seventy to 80 buses are being prepared to transport passengers from Ensenada to the United States, and they would cross through the Otay Mesa port of entry.

The seven-day Mexican cruise began Sunday in Long Beach but was cut short Monday for the 3,299 passengers when a fire broke out about 6 a.m. in the aft engine room of the vessel, prompting the cruise line to terminate the ship’s itinerary.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, said Joyce Oliva, a Carnival Cruise Lines spokeswoman.

The fire was extinguished by the ship’s C02 system, Metcalf said. The system provides a blanket of heavy gas that absorbs heat from fire and reduces the oxygen content in the atmosphere to the point where combustion becomes impossible.

This tells how dangerous the fire was. From my experience, the carbon dioxide system is used only when the fire is out of control or when an explosion is imminent.

There were no injuries to passengers or the 1,167 crew members.

Three U.S. Coast Guard cutters, a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft and a 965-foot container vessel that was in the area initially responded to the distressed cruise ship. Also assisting was a Mexican Navy 140-foot patrol boat and aircraft. One of the cutters has since returned to San Diego, as has the plane, according to the Coast Guard.

The container ship that responded to the emergency is the “Dresden Express”.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Kevin Metcalf said no one boarded the ship because there was no pending danger.

At the Coast Guard’s request, the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan was diverted from training maneuvers to take a position south of the Carnival ship to help deliver needed supplies, the Navy said.

The Navy was flying 35 pallets of supplies from North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado to the Reagan Tuesday morning. Once aboard the carrier, a helicopter was to take the supplies to the cruise ship.

Carnival is buying the food to be taken to the ship, said Cmdr. Greg Hicks of the Navy’s Third Fleet in San Diego. Two Navy planes carrying bread, other basic food items and utensils went out early Tuesday. The next loads to go out will include frozen milk.

The engineers on the Carnival Splendor worked all day Monday to restore power to the ship but were unsuccessful, Oliva said.

Emergency generators provided lights, but the ship does not have working air conditioning, hot food service or telephones. For a time on Monday, the toilets couldn’t be flushed, but by the evening the ship’s engineers restored toilet service to all cabins and public bathrooms, as well as cold running water. The ship’s crew was continuing to try to restore other services.

Bottled water and cold food were being provided. Ordinarily, Internet service would be available but that is not operating as well, said Carnival spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz.

When the fire broke out, passengers were asked to move from their cabins to the ship’s upper open decks, Oliva said. They were later allowed to return to their cabins.

The cruise’s itinerary was to make stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas. The ship began operating in July 2008.

The passengers will receive a full refund, reimbursement for transportation costs and a free future cruise, said Gerry Cahill, CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines.

“We know this has been an extremely trying situation for our guests and we sincerely thank them for their patience. Conditions on board the ship are very challenging and we sincerely apologize for the discomfort and inconvenience our guests are currently enduring,” Cahill said in a statement. “The safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority and we are working to get our guests home as quickly as possible.”

Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/nov/09/navy-carrier-helps-stranded-cruise-ship-san-diego/

CRUISE | Disney sex pest pleads guilty

Originally posted in Tradewinds, 2010/09/28

A New Yorker faces 10 years in jail after pleading guilty to the sexual assault of a teenage girl onboard a Disney Cruise Lines vessel almost four years ago.

The incident onboard the 1,754-berth Disney Wonder (built 1999) between Florida and the Bahamas in 2007 saw a 13-year old girl attacked.

Lucas Wickes, a 25-year-old from Rochester, pleaded guilty in a US federal court on Monday to abusive sexual contact with the girl on New Year’s Day that year after the ship had set sail from Port Canaveral.

The accused encountered the victim, believed to be a Canadian national living in the US, outside the Bahamas-flagged ship’s teen club and told her to follow him to the rear of the ship where the abuse occurred.

Wickes, who was 21 at the time of the incident, had told prosecutors that he believed the girl was 17 years old. He now faces 10 years in prison, the maximum term for the crime.

Security personnel onboard the ship were first alerted to the incident when the girl alleged she was approached by a male who apparently wanted to show her something on the lower deck. When she rebuffed his offer the man allegedly threatened to throw her overboard.

Authorities onboard notified the FBI and the man was arrested by Bahamian police when the ship docked at Nassau some days later.

Prosecutors in the Bahamas failed to convict Wickes in a rape case in 2008. He was, however, ordered to pay a $10,000 fine or serve six months in jail, choosing to pay the fine.