P&O Nedlloyd Mondriaan



Some of you may be aware that there is a large container ship the "Maersk Sana" adrift in the Atlantic following an engine room explosion. She started life as the "P & O Nedlloyd Mondriaan" in 2004 under the command of Captain Alan Brown. The explosion occurred 28 April 25, she does have electrical power. According to press report 7 days ago a tug should be arriving as I type.
(Sent to me by Captain Peter Stacey, former BSL)

Bang goes their run ashore in "Lion City", on the positive side the area they're adrift in is top notch for "bronzying" .

 

Can they put a ship that size alongside in Bermuda?
Sounds like a CC Explosion, so new cc door, change the dodgy bearing. Probably get Sulzer down to do the work.
Doubt if the crew will need to bronzy, no longer white crew or officers I doubt.
I know Alan Brown, he was 2/o then, ex Trinity House cadet, as was Peter Stacey.

 

Can they put a ship that size alongside in Bermuda?
Sounds like a CC Explosion, so new cc door, change the dodgy bearing. Probably get Sulzer down to do the work.
Doubt if the crew will need to bronzy, no longer white crew or officers I doubt.
I know Alan Brown, he was 2/o then, ex Trinity House cadet, as was Peter Stacey.

Just read she's to be towed to a port of refuge in the Bahamas Dave, only times I've been to Bermuda was on QE2 and we had to anchor off and runs ashore were conducted on jolly boats.

 

I doubt if the sort of crew they have would be like us on a run ashore, so anywhere would do. Knowing shipping companies now, they would have her at anchor and barge any bits out to them.

You wouldn't be there long on the QE2 would you, just long enough for a quick beer.
Was you on the QE2 when she was a steamer or after the conversion to MAN four strokes?

 

She was still a steamer and I was doing my cadetship stm time (1985), 70,000 tons of thrust, rust and lust 🤣 .

 

Royal Caribbean can put their Freedom class ships alongside - similar length but much less draught of course.
The Old Royal Naval Dockyard is quite a substantial cruise terminal but I doubt that it would be desirable to have a berth blocked by a box boat for too long.

 

Malcolm, maybe so, but the shipowners these days won't pay for a berth, they don't need a drydock, seems the tug is bringing the parts required and Wartsilia/Sulzer people to fit them, all of which can be done at anchor. They will need a new crankcase door for a start and possibly a bearing, though they should have a Lloyds spare on board.
This will be an insurance job with P&I involved, so they might as well have the experts carry out the work, rather than ship's staff of dubious competence.

Assuming it was a crankcase explosion, as it said an engine explosion and fire, this is caused by a part in the engine becoming too hot for any number of reasons, this changes the oil vapour temperature in the crankcase until it reaches its explosive limit and bang.

There are large mushroom type relief valves on each crankcase door, usualy starboard side about 1 meter diameter, which will open with the increase in pressure, but at some point fresh air will enter and you get a secondary explosion that causes the fire.
These explosions are quite rare but if they happen can be disasterous.

Rags often drop in the crankcase from Engineers pockets, eventually end up in the suction strainer of the lube oil pump, this limits the oil flow and a drop in pressure, if this is not noticed then the engine is starved of oil especially when the ship is rolling, trim affects the lube oil level also, chief engineers don't like to add too much oil to the crankcase, as this goes down as useage and they are questioned. Sludge often settles in the bottom of the lube oil tank and in heavy weather is disturbed and the pump picks it up.

This ship is 21 years old, with various owners and the more owners the less they want to spend money on an old ship. So its the slippery slope to scrapping or a disaster.

It may be called Mearsk .......... but may not be owned by them but sold and charted back such that they are not responsible for the ship.
This seems quite common these days.

 

I've being trying to glean some info on this, more from the point of view as to what Tug is on it's way but news reports have been very vague as to that. @Challisstern 's last post makes more sense than anything I've read elsewhere. Still no ID on the tug though.

 

My money is on a tow to China up the Yangtze River to Chang Jiang shipbreakers,that's where my final trip @ sea terminated on P&O Nedlloyds Resolution Bay.

 

I doubt if the sort of crew they have would be like us on a run ashore, so anywhere would do. Knowing shipping companies now, they would have her at anchor and barge any bits out to them.

You wouldn't be there long on the QE2 would you, just long enough for a quick beer.
Was you on the QE2 when she was a steamer or after the conversion to MAN four strokes?

Can they put a ship that size alongside in Bermuda?
Sounds like a CC Explosion, so new cc door, change the dodgy bearing. Probably get Sulzer down to do the work.
Doubt if the crew will need to bronzy, no longer white crew or officers I doubt.
I know Alan Brown, he was 2/o then, ex Trinity House cadet, as was Peter Stacey.

Can they put a ship that size alongside in Bermuda?
Sounds like a CC Explosion, so new cc door, change the dodgy bearing. Probably get Sulzer down to do the work.
Doubt if the crew will need to bronzy, no longer white crew or officers I doubt.
I know Alan Brown, he was 2/o then, ex Trinity House cadet, as was Peter Stacey.

 

Yes, the QE2 used to berth on the outer pier at Ireland Island. British crew members used to water at the Prison Officers Club.
Pix shows QE2 berthing at the outer pier.

 

Spaarks, good sepia type shot of her.

 

Sea1 Ruby, an anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel from Sea1 Offshore, departed from Bergen, Norway nearly two weeks ago on May 4. The Norwegian-flagged 3,793 DWT vessel was built in 2010.

According to Maersk the two vessels will make way toward the Bahamas and are expected to reach port by the end of May.

From g-Captain.

 

Looking on Marine Traffic, the Maersk Sana is under tow by the Sea1 Ruby approx half way between Bermuda & the Bahamas at 8 knots.

 

Wee bit fast for troll fishing 🎣.