BBC reports that the Solong had a crew of 14, one of whom is missing. Photos from the scene clearly show that the Stena Immaculate was anchored when struck by the Solong which prompts a query. What members of the crew would be on the bridge of an anchored ship in a charted anchorage?
I would expect a watchkeeping officer to be on watch even if the ship was in the Humber Deep Water Anchorage.
You think there should be standby tugs with firefighting capability bobbing around in case something happens? Paid for be who? Even although:
Surely you only put special standby arrangements in place when the commercial operators don’t have enough demand to keep vessels in the area? Clearly there were tugs with firefighting capability on scene fairly quickly.
Yes. Every major oil facility has processes and capacity appropriate to its likely need, each harbour authority has a statutory duty and on top of which the MCA has a national response capability, following the Braer.
I would have though that is just a default CG response. TBH my view is that, compared to many areas, this area seems well provisioned with tugs capable of firefighting, lifeboats and other vessels. Maybe not everything is immediately available but it could have been worse (remembering there may be one lost crew member).
I’m not sure the 15 containers of sodium cyanide is quite the drama the media are making it out to be. Unless they all burst open simultaneously then it’s going to get very quickly diluted in the North Sea. Cyanide is horribly toxic, but it does occur in nature in tiny quantities - you have ingested some if you ever ate an apple seed. It is relevant from a firefighting and salvage perspective but it’s probably not the greatest environmental threat between the two vessels.
I imagine that such radars are primarily concerned with ensuring that vessels are navigating in the channels and time slots needed and keeping an eye on what smaller vessels such as yachts are doing. We are accustomed to air traffic control ensuring collision avoidance but I would guess that this is not part of the maritime equivalent except in marked channels but would be interested to know.
theres a bloody great radar that spins atop the old VTS tower at Spurn Point.
VTS is there to keep everybody informed about what's going on, and yes that includes potential collisions. Use Channel 14 if you're passing through the approaches and they'll let you know about any movements and also keep an eye on you.
How do the do that with nobody on board to secure it?
I would be interested to know too, but it is certainly there in the pictures
The containers may have been filled with knee-jerk.