Celebrity Infinity crashes into Ketchikan Dock

[Rabb it]

Gosh what a nightmare!

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

Are we sure that it is dock 3 because on another board it was stated that it is dock one that was affected, which is the dock Disney is scheduled to use.

This is where I got my info but of course it can always be incorrect. It shows the Infinity using 3 consistently and I think I read the NCL ship had just left and they show to be in 3 as well.

Hope wherever it is, others aren't impacted!

Heather

http://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Ketchikan-KTN-2016.pdf

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Are we sure that it is dock 3 because on another board it was stated that it is dock one that was affected, which is the dock Disney is scheduled to use.

Hi there Krissy,

They will likely have divers down there today. They will take a look at the underwater pilings and structure and then the engineers will decide if the dock is at least usable temporarily or if some repairs will be required or all repairs made before it is usable.

AKK

 

[Uncleromulus]

I imagine the Cruise Line Company will have to foot the bill for all repairs???

 

[xlxo]

Here's a description of the hand brake parking....

The Pearl made a clean exit into the heavy winds. Then Infinity started approaching from the north. As she nosed her bow towards the City Float cruise ship dock, a big gust pushed her bow even further towards shore. Moored just to the north of City Float is the Zaandam. Having watched many a ship dock here in Ketchikan, it appeared to Alex, that Infinity was too close to shore, and too close to Zaandam! Alex stated this fact out-loud, but failed to start rolling the cell phone video. Darn!

Both the Infinity's stern and bow thrusters running hot apparently couldn't keep the ship from gaining towards shore and the moored Zaandam. A bow only starboard thrust would allow a soft landing square to the dock, but would push the stern to port and shore-ward, and since the Infinity's stern was overlapped with the forward part of Zaandam, a collision would occur. The pilot's only choice was to continue thrusting to starboard and moving forward.

When the forward sections of the Infinity hull ground into the City Float piling, a loud metal-on-metal noise could be heard. Once clear of Zaandam's bow, the stern thruster helped square up the boat. But the cruise ship dock, catwalk, piling, auxiliary inside float and Infinity's port side suffered.​

http://mvwildblue.blogspot.ca/2016/06/2016-13-cruise-ship-damages-city-float.html

 

[AquaDame]

Well, if its 3 I hope they have it fixed by the end of July since it shows our ship the Radiance berthing there the day we are in port... I'm sure they have a contingency plan either way.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I imagine the Cruise Line Company will have to foot the bill for all repairs???

HO yes..........they may try and say the wind did it! However in the end the Master is responsible for his vessel. It was his responsibility to not dock if it was to windy or dangerous. The line had P ad I insurance for these kind of things.

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Well, if its 3 I hope they have it fixed by the end of July since it shows our ship the Radiance berthing there the day we are in port... I'm sure they have a contingency plan either way.

HI Aguadame


They will resign any vessel intended for dock 3 to other berths, or if possible they may still be able to use dock 3. if there is no space in the port they may change the port rotation or change ports.

AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Here's a description of the hand brake parking....

The Pearl made a clean exit into the heavy winds. Then Infinity started approaching from the north. As she nosed her bow towards the City Float cruise ship dock, a big gust pushed her bow even further towards shore. Moored just to the north of City Float is the Zaandam. Having watched many a ship dock here in Ketchikan, it appeared to Alex, that Infinity was too close to shore, and too close to Zaandam! Alex stated this fact out-loud, but failed to start rolling the cell phone video. Darn!

Both the Infinity's stern and bow thrusters running hot apparently couldn't keep the ship from gaining towards shore and the moored Zaandam. A bow only starboard thrust would allow a soft landing square to the dock, but would push the stern to port and shore-ward, and since the Infinity's stern was overlapped with the forward part of Zaandam, a collision would occur. The pilot's only choice was to continue thrusting to starboard and moving forward.

When the forward sections of the Infinity hull ground into the City Float piling, a loud metal-on-metal noise could be heard. Once clear of Zaandam's bow, the stern thruster helped square up the boat. But the cruise ship dock, catwalk, piling, auxiliary inside float and Infinity's port side suffered.​

http://mvwildblue.blogspot.ca/2016/06/2016-13-cruise-ship-damages-city-float.html

Thanks for the post xlxo,

The description makes sense based on the video shown. I wonder if they saw all 3 thrusters forward were being used?

It also notes there were tugs available in the port, although they would have to be rather big to be of much use.

I do disagree with the holed hull. I would be amazed that the USCG and vessel class would allow a weld over and only from the inside to boot, of any gash cut in hull plating. They may have been reinforcing some structure damage from the inside. Now with that said, please note I only said amazed, because with this kind of thing, I never say never!

AKK

 

[bcwife76]

I'm tempted to go downtown tomorrow and see the damage to the ship firsthand when it's docked in Vancouver!

It was quite the scraping noise on the video (could have done without their fingers in a portion of it lol). Even the most experienced still run into trouble now and again. Hopefully everything can be fully restored quickly and efficiently but as others have posted, who knows what 'under the water' looks like for that dock. A $2-$3 million estimate does seem a bit low..

 

[jenpink]

I am sitting in the Wonder right now while it is docking in Ketchikan and this was the first post I saw Wow.

 

[truck1]

HO yes..........they may try and say the wind did it! However in the end the Master is responsible for his vessel. It was his responsibility to not dock if it was to windy or dangerous. The line had P ad I insurance for these kind of things.

AKK

I'm not buying it was the wind. Too much is not adding up. I've been wrong before like you said but something isn't right. I'll wait for the CG report on it and see what it says. I doubt NTSB will be involved much.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I am sitting in the Wonder right now while it is docking in Ketchikan and this was the first post I saw Wow.

I hope you can find out the latest for us.

 

[xlxo]

I'm not buying it was the wind. Too much is not adding up.

From the video.... you can hear the wind coming by the microphone. Is there a site one can go and check wind speed from June 3rd at 1:30pm?

 

[Steelers0854]

I'm not buying it was the wind. Too much is not adding up. I've been wrong before like you said but something isn't right. I'll wait for the CG report on it and see what it says. I doubt NTSB will be involved much.

I'm no expert but cruise ships act like huge sails in heavy winds. When moving forward with momentum the effect would not be as much as when trying to dock using thrusters that have limited power when compared with the main engines. If the winds were strong enough (I read 40-50 miles an hour from one person) then I could easily see this happening. This is why ports are missed when there doesn't appear to be bad weather but the wind is strong. The NTSB investigates all incidents occurring within the US or territorial waters and will send an investigator most likely to meet the ship at another port based on past incidents I read about. Coast Guard will of course conduct an initial investigation as well.

 

[DVC-Don]

The dock sustained $2-3 million in damages, and put a gash in the side of the ship.


..................................

http://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2016/06/03/video-cruise-ship-crashes-into-ketchikan-dock/

Sure sounds windy, but I only saw paint scraped off the hull, no gash.

 

[truck1]

I'm no expert but cruise ships act like huge sails in heavy winds. When moving forward with momentum the effect would not be as much as when trying to dock using thrusters that have limited power when compared with the main engines. If the winds were strong enough (I read 40-50 miles an hour from one person) then I could easily see this happening. This is why ports are missed when there doesn't appear to be bad weather but the wind is strong. The NTSB investigates all incidents occurring within the US or territorial waters and will send an investigator most likely to meet the ship at another port based on past incidents I read about. Coast Guard will of course conduct an initial investigation as well.

From the video.... you can hear the wind coming by the microphone. Is there a site one can go and check wind speed from June 3rd at 1:30pm?

Let me rephrase this. The wind may have had a part in it, but I doubt very much it was the sole factor. From watching the video, theres a few tattle tales of what the ship was doing when she hit. She hit while moving forward. Second, as Tonka's Skipper pointed out, and I tend to agree with him, it does not look like all 3 bow thrusters were maxed out. If all 3 were even running. The fact the ship was moving forward took out part of the effectiveness of the thrusters. Her stern never came around like I would expect, when hit broadside by the wind. Reading the quote from the blog site, what the author failed to realize is that Infinity has pods under her stern and not props like the DCL ships. DCL has 2 thrusters under her stern near her keel while poded ships use the main engine pods to both steer and thrust. Infinity has 3 bow thrusters and you can see that by the circled white "x" painted on her bow, 1 over each thruster. However, looking at the wash and comparing it to the Magic class which is about the same size, you can see where it looks like only 1 thruster is working and its not pushing water out as far as Ive seen the Magic class do when running flat out to move the bow around. Its working but it doesn't look maxed.


As far as the NTSB, they will come out and look, and investigate but the bulk of the investigation will come from the CG. That report will be available probably in a few months, and it will be online on the CGs page. It may not say Infinity. but it will have all of the details which you can match to the incident. CG prob will have some one pull the black box tapes, and recreate the incident on computer to go with the witness statements and that right there will tell us if it was ship or truly the wind.

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

I'm not buying it was the wind. Too much is not adding up. I've been wrong before like you said but something isn't right. I'll wait for the CG report on it and see what it says. I doubt NTSB will be involved much.

I agree somethings are not adding up The wind was only *gusting* to 45 miles. The wind was in the right direction to blow her down toward the dock. However, even that is not even the point. The Master is still responsible for the safe operation of the vessel. If the wind was to strong, he should have held off.

2. Based on the limited video, the wash of the bow thrusters just do not look right for 3 units. Possibly only 1 in operation.

3. As I pointed out earlier,since no one was hurt and their was no pollution, this is not that big a deal........lots of drama yes, big major casualty no. The USCG has started a report and I am sure additional inspectors will be on board in Vancouver.


Your right of course, we will have to wait until the final USCG report is out in what.............months or a year!


AKK

 

[Tonka's Skipper]

Let me rephrase this. The wind may have had a part in it, but I doubt very much it was the sole factor. From watching the video, theres a few tattle tales of what the ship was doing when she hit. She hit while moving forward. Second, as Tonka's Skipper pointed out, and I tend to agree with him, it does not look like all 3 bow thrusters were maxed out. If all 3 were even running. The fact the ship was moving forward took out part of the effectiveness of the thrusters. Her stern never came around like I would expect, when hit broadside by the wind. Reading the quote from the blog site, what the author failed to realize is that Infinity has pods under her stern and not props like the DCL ships. DCL has 2 thrusters under her stern near her keel while poded ships use the main engine pods to both steer and thrust. Infinity has 3 bow thrusters and you can see that by the circled white "x" painted on her bow, 1 over each thruster. However, looking at the wash and comparing it to the Magic class which is about the same size, you can see where it looks like only 1 thruster is working and its not pushing water out as far as Ive seen the Magic class do when running flat out to move the bow around. Its working but it doesn't look maxed.


As far as the NTSB, they will come out and look, and investigate but the bulk of the investigation will come from the CG. That report will be available probably in a few months, and it will be online on the CGs page. It may not say Infinity. but it will have all of the details which you can match to the incident. CG prob will have some one pull the black box tapes, and recreate the incident on computer to go with the witness statements and that right there will tell us if it was ship or truly the wind.

The thrusters are most effective with no forward or aft motion. I beleive when your up to about 3 knots, they have very little effective push.

AKK

 

[hanscarlet]

Wow! Scary. Good info in this thread, learning a lot!