North Sea collision

[KenAdams]

Two ships have collided in the North Sea, one carrying A1 jet fuel.

Aside from the environmental impact which is yet to be determined, one of the ships was anchored. How do you not see an anchored ship?! Possibly it was foggy?

Thanks for this, I'll give it a listen.

You can have a car accident which triggers a fire.

With a tanker full of inflammable stuff, that potential is much higher.

The "What's Going on With Shipping" YouTube channel usually gives pretty good information on all things maritime.

Looks like the container ship was on autopilot on a route the ship had done multiple times before. The ship did not slow down or try to change course before the collision with the tanker so either significant human error or mechanical failure. I think all crew, apart from one on the shipping container, are accounted for.

That stretch of coastline has a lot of seal colonies and birdlife. It's very concerning.

The tanker was carrying jet fuel for the US military. It does make you wonder if sabotage or hacking were involved, although I doubt the usual suspects for that kind of thing would want to piss off Trump right when he is doing them so many big favours.

Apparently it was very foggy and the cargo ship was on a route it had taken many times. Speculation is that complacency came into play. It does seem strange that you can crash into something so big, even in fog.

Fog shouldn't be an issue at all with the amount of tech they have on board. I've sailed a fair amount in fog and you really can "see" with the equipment
If they had crashed into a tiny yacht that might be plausible (they can get lost if there are big waves) but you can't miss a huge tanker on your radar

Sodium cyanide and jet fuel. If it wasn't sabotage then someone missed a trick.

Musk reports massive cyber attack on Twitter today, who knows what else is happening? I'm assuming he didn't sack whoever controls US shipping when he was firing everyone in sight. Good luck in the Gulf of America and sympathy to anyone whose family is affected today, I hope recovery is swift.

I used to work for the company of one of the ships involved. I very very much doubt it was a deliberate collision. The disruption and cost impact will be huge and the cost impact will be paid for by the cargo owners. Incredibly unlikely to intentional. Said company is in those waters 5 times a week, they captain knows it well.

That made me laugh!

Just searched for a thread on this, as it's a significant incident, particularly environmentally, and it's fortunate the crews escaped.

Keeping an eye on it though, given the tankers military association, as while accidents do happen, this is a bit of an odd one in my books.

Probably doesn't help that I'm binge watching "Spooks" at the moment, however, we do live in "strange and interesting times"....

I live in Grimsby. Very foggy. Visibility on my way to work at 5am this morning was down to very little. It didn't really start to clear till dinner.
Spurn Point is of massive importance to wildlife.

Hoping that the containers for the sodium cyanide are very robust. They must be contained in very strong containers. So hopefully will remain leak tight

Horrendous situation. It looks like this could sadly unfold into an absolute environment pollution nightmare.

Clearly wouldn't be an excuse but would the pilot of the moving vessel have expected the stationary vessel to have been anchored there? Curious.

I’m really worried about the consequences: for the puffins at Bempton, the dolphins, the fisheries, and the lovely Yorkshire Belle historic pleasure boat which will likely not be able to survive another bad year.
Glad it sounds like all the crews are ok.

@CuriousRunner - yes. The anchored vessel was waiting for high tide to go up the Humber to Immingham Docks. It's a very common occurrence, similar to aeroplanes in a holding pattern waiting to land.

The radar should have picked it up too, unless there had been a technical error on either vessel.

My husband is not usually a conspiracy theorist but is thinking it was deliberate. The container ship was carrying sodium cyanide which is now in the sea. The devastation to wildlife, the fishing industry, tourism etc is just unthinkable.

@CaptainMyCaptain we've not had blue flag status for our water for a few years now. Too much sewage in the Humber estuary these days.
Our local Facebook is full of talk of Russian submarines.....

You can see the anchored ship quite clearly.

The problem is the effect of the tides, currents and wind on your ship relative to the anchored ship.

Navigating ships - especially in confined waters - is not like driving a car.

We spend a lot of time on the Yorkshire and Lincolnshire coast. I don't go in the sea myself but love the beach and the dog paddles. Tourism would be affected by dead birds and animals washing up on the shore and people fearing a generally toxic sea. There will be plenty of knock on effects.

I lived in Tenby when the Sea Empress disaster happened in the 90s, it really scuppered tourism for a year or two and the oil on the beaches was heartbreaking.

Oh my god of course there are. that’s a fantastic wildlife coastline. Those poor poor creatures

I was in the sea at Scarborough on Saturday.
I wonder how far it will spread. I would hope as far north as Scarborough will be fine but Brid is nearer, and Hornsea.

The time of year is terrible too. Seals having pups and birds nesting.

I was in Brid last week. 🙁