For a long time, the shipping industry has actively participated in the world trade. It is worth highlighting the fact that all over the sea routes during the day distant corporations and sponsors do not rest thousands of cargo ships transporting cargoes. But still, these huge vessels may encounter some perilous incidents which can be terrible. accidents of cargo vessels are not crude boomers nowadays, due the chances of cargo ship accident have been greatly reduced because of maritime security measures which are technical and educational practices to prevent accidents, and the development of the Shipping industry.
Saving of people’s lives is pretty fundamental. Cargo vessels are essential machines for effective vessel work that carry great wok cargoes. But still, for the last some decades there are heavy accidents aboard cargo ships, the fact that we must emphasize is that even so the level is not so small. Accidents involving tile ships do not cause too many navy loss of life but instead cause a lot of material damage and environmental disasters. For the past 50 years, Multinational Corporations have suffered billions of dollars on oil and chemicals as the oceans were turned into their waste dump due to mishaps through the cargo ships.
Maritime security measures come to the fore for two reasons that increase the current dangers:
- Investments into the shipping business through oil only makes the horizon rather promising. In these days, a typical ULCC class of a ship is capable of carrying 320,000DWT and even more extravagant ships are evolving over time. The volume of a ship is 210,000 cubic meters which comfortably holds the ULCVs 24,000 containers. On influencing factors which have the biggest potential to cause large scale problems and catastrophes with cargo ships, it is amusing that the cargo ship accident now causes much greater devastation than ever before.
- There seems to be a trend in the increasing number of cargo ships. In 2023, the International Maritime Organization has recorded 55 thousand large commercial ships that have foreign registration. Simply put, the world is fast becoming home to a larger number of cargo ships.
Biggest Freighter Accidents in History
1. MV Mont-Blanc & SS Imo (Halifax, Canada - 1917)
In 1917, Halifax, Canada, was the scene of the Mont-Blanc disaster, which has since been documented among the highest explosions resulting from a bulk carrier ship. More than two thousand lives were lost and nearly nine thousand injuries were reported. The explosion which was from a force amounting to 2.9 kilotons of TNT was so devastating that it remained the strongest manmade explosion until the atomic bomb was developed towards the end of World War II.
2. SS Flying Enterprise (Atlantic Ocean - 1952)
The SS Flying Enterprise disaster in the Atlantic Ocean in the year 1952 also goes down in history as one of the most popular appear cargo ship disasters in the books. In this incidence, the ship went an 8 days stormy sea drift before eventual sinking.
3. MV Doña Paz (Philippines - 1987)
MV Doña Paz disaster unfolded in the Philippines in approximately 1987. This cargo ship collided with a passenger cruise ferry from Manila to Tacloban, training and sinking in the process. They say out of almost 4000 passengers, no less than 4000 lost their lives during the incident.
4. Atlantic Express 1996
Atlantic Express was a refrigerator container ship that capsized in the waters off the coast France in December of 1996. The ship contained more than thirty-five hundred containers most of which were hazardous therefore it was presumed the spread of toxic chemicals was inevitable. The event led to the destruction of many containers as well as pollution to the environment on an unmeasurable scale.
5. MV Tricolor (North Sea - 2002)
The MV Tricolor disaster in the North Sea in 2002 ranks as one of the largest loss of human life due to marine accidents to date. Large quantities of oil and other hazardous materials which were packed on board the vessel poured out and washed into the ocean, resulting in extensive ecological degradation.
6. MV Erika (France - 1999)
The MV Erika catastrophe of 1999 has gone down as one of the largest oil spill disasters in history. This freight carrier vessel was responsible for spilling around 20,000 tons of oil in the Mediterranean Sea.
7. Cosco Busan (San Francisco – 2007)
In November 2007, a container vessel – Cosco Busan – bumped into the bay of San Francisco Oakland Bridge which left a large volume of oil leading to the pollution of water in the region. The event introduced a significant volume of over 50, 000 gallons of oil into the water, resulting in vast amount of damage and losses in revenue. It is speculated that – poor communication and orientation caused the problem.
8. MV MSC Napoli (England - 2007)
On January 2007, the MSC Napoli container vessel was shipwrecked, off the coast of England. The vessel was in possession of over 2300 containers which included goods that posed several hazards. Some containers were missing in the incident and some contained toxic materials which harmed the environment. It is believed that the accident happened but not limited to rough seas and the vessel being incorrectly loaded.
9. The MOL Comfort (Indian Ocean – 2013)
In June 2013, an unfortunate incident occurred with the MOL Comfort, a container ship that witnessed a complete tragedy. The ship was lost in the Indian Ocean, where it ultimately sank after splitting into two separate hulls, together with the loss of 26 crew members and the spillage of thousands of oil wordies. The circumstances further pointed at the design and the breadth of the cargo distribution that put so much stress on the hull structure.
10. The Maersk Honam (Arabian Sea - 2018)
In March 2018, Maersk Honam was in the Arabian Sea during a sailing incident in which the mt Honam caught on fire. Due to rapid escalation of flame and dense smoke, five crew members were killed, while many hundreds of containers and its contents were destroyed in fire. The cause of accident was probably attributed to the poor stacking of the dangerous cargo that was onboard.
11. MV Wakashio (Mauritius – 2020)
On July 25, 2020, the MV Wakashio, a Japanese bulk carrier ship, was reported agraded during an inclement weather off the shores of Mauritius. There were reports that the vessel still contained large amounts of fuel oil which subsequently escaped out into the pristine sea waters. The spill did not only contaminate the ocean waters but also posed additional danger to the already delicate local ecological system. The event evoked a lot of anger with members of the public taking to the streets in efforts to demand tougher measures for the regulation and management of environmental issues in relation to maritime transport.
Maritime Security Measures
It is normal, with regard to overseas transport, where there are threats to crew members, cargoes, and the surrounding environment, facilities to protect these elements are implemented on board the ship. These are the same kind of measures that are put in place to avoid threats such as piracy and terrorism.
The code which assists in providing security to ships movement is called the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code. The ISPS Code has its roots in the stem of the September 11 attacks and provides minimum requirements with respect to the security of vessels and port facilities. All Vessels are required to hold security plans and carry out security exercises and evaluation while keeping in contact with the port facilities and the pa authorities.
Apart from the ISPS Code, ships can also use secure access points, CCTV & other physical barriers to enhance their security. The crew may be able to complete basic security training in the event of threat identification and authrity response. Other vessels may have armed guards onboard for protection of crew and cargo.
The facilitation of such measures relies heavily upon the exchange and cooperation of information of a secret nature within ship operators, ports, and law enforcement agencies. Chief among them is information about the threats themselves, plans to neutralize them, and training sessions on interdiction techniques.
What is MARSEC
MARSEC is an abbreviation that is common in the maritime realm. It depicts the frame work put in place to combat security threats on ships and ports including terrorism, piracy, smuggling among others. Physical security measures against the ANSI guard include but are not limited to authorized immigration barriers, CCTV surveillance systems as well as guard men. The MARSEC level is fluctuating depending on the risk level of the particular threat. It is believed that the future of naval warfare will see autonomous vessels as well as technological developments capable of incorporating cyber threats and piracy into the security brackets of MARSEC.
Conclusion
Container fleets have major impacts including human death, environmental collapse as well as huge economic losses. Container accidents, while almost always take place, are bound to happen from time to time but the container leasing firms need to do better in regard to taking safety measures. Safety measures that include proper ship making, proper packing, communication, and navigation as well as proper crew training are important for effective environmentally sound container shipping.
The shipping industry has undertaken a number of initiatives in an effort to enhance safety and avoid accidents which include, collisions and allisions in the case of cargo and container ships or any other kind of transportation process. After an event such as this, the officials and managers in the sector always seek to understand what happened and learn from it and put in place measures to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. Technology improvement and monitoring systems have surely helped towards the safety of cargo vessels as well.
Nonetheless, it must be remembered that through human negligence, climate forces or other unforeseen events, accidents do take place. So, safety should still be the key element in any competitive strategy in the industry so as to cater for any blanks that remain.
Source: TOP 10 CARGO SHIP ACCIDENTS IN HISTORY
Written by: Aykut Alan
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