Bulk carrier aground in the Minch

[Kukri]

Must be a recent change then, she went around in 2011 or 2012

The Nairobi Convention on the Removal of Wrecks was adopted in 2007 and entered into force with the fifteenth signature on the 14th April 2015. The original fifteen signatorAntigua and Barbuda, Bulgaria, Congo, Cook Islands, Denmark, Germany, India, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Liberia, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Morocco, Nigeria, Palau, and the United Kingdom.

So, yes.

Here’s an IMO Press Release:

The Nairobi Wreck Removal Convention enters into force

Here’s the text of the Convention:

https://www.skuld.com/contentassets...4e674c36ecf/wreck-removal-convention-2007.pdf

 

[westhinder]

Well, the law does, but it’s a moving target!

When I were a lad, wrecks were removed, under port and harbour legislation, if they blocked ports or waterways.

Then Governments started to give themselves more powers, so for example the wrecks of the Herald of Free Enterprise and of the Tricolor were removed because they were a hazard to navigation in the English Channel.

Then the Costa Concordia was removed because she was an eyesore in a beauty spot, and she was removed in a very fancy way in order to avoid environmental damage.

And now we have reached the point where all merchant ships have to carry “evidence of compulsory insurance” against:

Oil pollution from cargo or bunkers
Crew wages if the ship sinks or the owner goes bust
Wreck removal

That trawler will have pre-dated the compulsory insurance

Interesting, thanks.
Just a detail of course, both the Tricolour and the Herald were firmly in the North Sea, unless your definition of the English Channel is a lot broader than mine

 

[Kukri]

Interesting, thanks.
Just a detail of course, both the Tricolour and the Herald were firmly in the North Sea, unless your definition of the English Channel is a lot broader than mine

Off Dunkirk and off Zeebrugge. You are certainly right.

 

[LittleSister]

the Tricolour and the Herald were firmly in the North Sea, unless your definition of the English Channel is a lot broader than mine

Or the German Sea, as we used to call it!

 

[Kukri]

I have realised why I made that silly mistake and it was because the Tricolor was « History repeating itself as farce » for the Varne Wrecks.

MV Tricolor - Wikipedia

Four-ship disaster left more than 40 dead

 

[Kukri]

It’s odd that there is no Wikipedia article on the Varne Wrecks. The loss of life was ghastly and they were responsible for the 1972 Collision Regulations which are those still in force today. They brought in - amongst other things - mandatory traffic separation schemes.

Texaco Caribbean - Cedre

 

[dom]

It’s odd that there is no Wikipedia article on the Varne Wrecks. The loss of life was ghastly and they were responsible for the 1972 Collision Regulations which are those still in force today. They brought in - amongst other things - mandatory traffic separation schemes.

Texaco Caribbean - Cedre

Wow, never knew about this - extraordinary affair

 

[Stemar]

Indeed. Tragic for all concerned, but I have to offer a Darwin award to the officer of the watch on the Nikki and a good few honourable mentions over the next couple of months.

A light ship and 5 light buoys were added on site but on 27 February, the Greek vessel the Nikki, sailing from Dunkirk to Alexandria, ignored the warnings and collided with the submerged wrecks. ... The Nikki went down with her entire crew.

The 3 wrecks represented a serious hazard for passing ships. A second lightship and about 10 more buoys were added. However within 2 months, British coastal authorities reported 16 ships for having ignored the lightships and buoys. Luckily, there were no further incidents.

 

[Leighb]

Indeed. Tragic for all concerned, but I have to offer a Darwin award to the officer of the watch on the Nikki and a good few honourable mentions over the next couple of months.

A light ship and 5 light buoys were added on site but on 27 February, the Greek vessel the Nikki, sailing from Dunkirk to Alexandria, ignored the warnings and collided with the submerged wrecks. ... The Nikki went down with her entire crew.

The 3 wrecks represented a serious hazard for passing ships. A second lightship and about 10 more buoys were added. However within 2 months, British coastal authorities reported 16 ships for having ignored the lightships and buoys. Luckily, there were no further incidents.

For a full account of the heroic efforts by Trinity House to deal with this situation read Keepers of the Sea by Richard Woodman, a history of Trinity House up to the early 80s. It devotes 3 pages to a very detailed account of the unfolding drama and it is astonishing that so many ships came close to the same disaster as Nikki.

 

[Biggles Wader]

It’s odd that there is no Wikipedia article on the Varne Wrecks. The loss of life was ghastly and they were responsible for the 1972 Collision Regulations which are those still in force today. They brought in - amongst other things - mandatory traffic separation schemes.

Texaco Caribbean - Cedre

I grew up in that area and the explosion when Texaco Caribbean blew up was the loudest single bang I ever heard. Its true that it broke windows in Folkestone, some seven miles away. Later, when the wrecks were being salvaged, I used to visit the lifting vessel when it was in Dover. I think it was called Topmast 21 and the crew were always glad to chat to us locals out walking our dogs. No dock security then!

 

[dom]

Indeed. Tragic for all concerned, but I have to offer a Darwin award to the officer of the watch on the Nikki and a good few honourable mentions over the next couple of months.

A light ship and 5 light buoys were added on site but on 27 February, the Greek vessel the Nikki, sailing from Dunkirk to Alexandria, ignored the warnings and collided with the submerged wrecks.....

On the plus side, the same text came in handy when the MV Tricolor capsized in a similar area after being rammed by the Kariba some 32 years later!

"...............The shipping lane, being one of the busiest ones, had been buoyed off and guarded by the French police vessels Glaive and HMS Anglesey along with a few more, in order to alert other ships to the MV Tricolor’s presence. Despite that, only two days later a cargo ship, Nicola, , followed by another vessel, Vicky, carrying 70,000 tonnes of highly flammable gas oil, crashed into the wreck of the MV Tricolor on Jan 1, 2003, after failing to heed to several French naval warnings..... "​

​

Worst Maritime Accidents: The Tricolor Cargo Ship Accident​

​

​

​

 

[Kukri]

Nobody died in the Tricolor cases. That’s why I think of it in terms of Karl Marx’s famous quote: « History repeats itself; the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce ».

Standards of ship design and construction and safety equipment had improved a great deal. And the Texaco Caribbean was in the dangerous state for a pre-COW and IGS tanker of being in over rich ballast - tear a hole in the side of a tank in a collision, introducing air and a source of ignition from the heat of impact, and BANG.

 

[dom]

Nobody died in the Tricolor cases. That’s why I think of it in terms of Karl Marx’s famous quote: « History repeats itself; the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce ».

Standards of ship design and construction and safety equipment had improved a great deal. And the Texaco Caribbean was in the dangerous state for a pre-COW and IGS tanker of being in over rich ballast - tear a hole in the side of a tank in a collision, introducing air and a source of ignition from the heat of impact, and BANG.

Interesting, one forgets how easily those old tankers could be turned into floating bombs!

Although in the colreg sense the Tricolor is in some senses even more amazing. To clatter into a well marked and guarded wreck in the era of GPS and modern comms borders unbelievable.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Although in the colreg sense the Tricolor is in some senses even more amazing. To clatter into a well marked and guarded wreck in the era of GPS and modern comms borders unbelievable.

It supports my theory that one should treat all commercial shipping as if their bridge crew is a single drunken Latvian with forged qualifications and advanced sleep deprivation unless one has proof to the contrary.

 

[Kukri]

Interesting, one forgets how easily those old tankers could be turned into floating bombs!

Although in the colreg sense the Tricolor is in some senses even more amazing. To clatter into a well marked and guarded wreck in the era of GPS and modern comms borders unbelievable.

The history of inert gas systems in tankers is quite a subject. The first inert gas systems were put into use by Sun Oil in 1933. For many years the only other tanker owner to show interest was BP - not because of safety but because it reduced the rate of corrosion in uncoated tanks!

During WW2 Allied aircraft carriers inerted their aviation spirit tanks (the Japanese did not) but nobody thought about tankers.

We have a couple of tanker men here.. Refueller and Frank Holden...

Stanvac Japan - (1953-1960)


Only after the explosions on the Shell VLCCs Marpessa and Mactra and the independent VLCC Kong Haakon within three weeks in 1971 was anything done. And even then it took another ten years.

 

[dom]

The history of inert gas systems in tankers is quite a subject. The first inert gas systems were put into use by Sun Oil in 1933. For many years the only other tanker owner to show interest was BP - not because of safety but because it reduced the rate of corrosion in uncoated tanks!

During WW2 Allied aircraft carriers inerted their aviation spirit tanks (the Japanese did not) but nobody thought about tankers.

We have a couple of tanker men here.. Refueller and Frank Holden...

Stanvac Japan - (1953-1960)


Only after the explosions on the Shell VLCCs Marpessa and Mactra and the independent VLCC Kong Haakon within three weeks in 1971 was anything done. And even then it took another ten years.

So around the time modern day health and safety appeared, including the UK’s Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Perhaps partly because I was a youngster, but I vividly remember the shock at Union Carbide‘s 1984 Bhopal disaster. My mother grew up less than 100 miles from there.

Interesting general history of workplace safety here:
Two steps forward, one step back - History of Occupational Safety and Health

 

[JumbleDuck]

Perhaps partly because I was a youngster, but I vividly remember the shock at Union Carbide‘s 1984 Bhopal disaster.

Plus ça change.

Hundreds injured and 13 dead in Indian gas leak

 

[dom]

Plus ça change...

Hundreds injured and 13 dead in Indian gas leak

Not again

 

[Giblets]

The end of Kammi.

 

[penfold]

It’s odd that there is no Wikipedia article on the Varne Wrecks. The loss of life was ghastly and they were responsible for the 1972 Collision Regulations which are those still in force today. They brought in - amongst other things - mandatory traffic separation schemes.

Texaco Caribbean - Cedre

There's a german wiki page for the Texaco Caribbean and the ship wrecks of 1971 page lists it and the subsequent events. Why not write a page? Anyone can contribute and edit stuff on Wikipedia, even idiots like me. It was certainly a catalyst for change, just like the Tenerife air disaster a few years later.