Stern tube aft bearing damage discovered during survey in Piraeus
Another stern tube aft bearing damage discovered once vessel entered Drydock in Piraeus for her 3rd Special Survey.
With just a few hours of operation in rough seas (9bft+) at high engine load, whilst in ballast condition, the EAL oil film was disturbed and subsequently the aft stern tube bearing temperature increased drastically. The immediate reaction of the crew to reduce RPM and monitor the temperature prevented further potential catastrophic damage to the bearing / tailshaft.
Bearing was removed, repaired by centrifugal rebabbiting at local workshop in Piraeus and re-fitted in position.
Container Vessel Run Aground off Singapore Straits
A laden container vessel run aground off Singapore Straits separation zone at shallow waters ,Sambu island, Indonesia.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, our Singapore office associate surveyor in Indonesia was immediately mobilized and attended the casualty and remained on board throughout the refloating operations (under BIMCO WRECKHIRE 2020 contract), monitoring and reporting on daily operations, under the coordination and assistance of both our Singapore and Piraeus Head Offices.
It is noteworthy that as another container vessel previously ran and remained aground at the same position, extra care for proper navigation should be exercised whilst transiting the Singapore separation zone at the particular location. During the 2nd vessel’s stranding, the 2 vessels also came in contact until their marginal separation by Salvors tugs.
After inspection by divers, pressurizing FPK and No 1 DB WBT’s and deploying 2 tugs the vessel was successfully refloated. Temporary repairs by underwater welding of doubler plates were carried out restoring watertightness of No1 DB tank and vessel resumed trading until D/Docking for carrying out permanent repairs.
Passing of Typhoon Quinta over the Philippines
Product Tanker dragged anchors and ran hard aground / stranded on rocky shore, sustaining widespread bottom/shell plating damage,
E/R flooding, with propeller / tailshaft and rudder assemblies severed.
With our local correspondent surveyor attending on site on behalf of our Singapore office & with the coordination of our Piraeus Head office, by swift reporting to H&M UWRS a quick favorable settlement was timely achieved on the Hull Policy with substantial savings to UWRS, switching the refloating operation to Wreck Removal under the P&I policy.
A trend of increased stern tube failures in the COVID-19 era
Since the beginning of 2020, and during COVID-19, our Global Office Network received an increased number of instructions on Stern Tube damages, totalling 25 to date. The latest instruction was received by our new Singapore Office, with damage discovered at Unithai Shipyard (Thailand), being catastrophic to both aft ST bush and tailshaft (photos).
The nature and extent of damage varies in each case, sometimes limited to ST bush bearing metal wiping, or resulting in catastrophic failure during voyage/loss of propulsion with vessel needing towage to destination or port of refuge, arising to General Average expenditure when vessels are in laden condition. At COVID lockdown periods, limited availability of Shipyard Drydocking space, resulted in rapid deterioration of bush condition and aggravation of damage - a "force majeure" situation.
Investigation into the cause of failure in each case suggests that the ST bush wiping is usually gradual and Lub oil analysis records indicate that, in most cases, the periods until discovery of damage/failure are rather long, without necessarily triggering high-temperature alarms or involving sea water ingress / LO leakage.
From the Caribbean to China
The advantage of attending & following up a casualty until completion of repairs through our global network of offices.
An E/R fire broke out on a VLCC tanker in laden condition en route from USA to China. At few days into her approx. 45 days voyage to destination and due to fuel oil leakage on the M/E exhaust manifold a fire broke out. Despite a temporary loss of propulsion, crew managed to reinstate M/E operation & sought refuge to the nearest coast, French Guiana.
Upon receipt of instructions from H&M UWS and within 24hrs from vessel’s arrival at French Guiana, our Surveyor boarded the vessel. During attendance, the minimum necessary actions for vessel to resume her voyage were evaluated. Given that the fixed CO2 E/R firefighting system was entirely consumed, the alternative solution of combining the main deck foam system with the fire line in E/R was adopted. This allowed continuation of the laden voyage to destination with Class/Flag approval.
We are closely lazing with Piraeus based Managers from our Piraeus Head Office, monitoring findings of continued inspections on board and reporting same to our Principals, until vessel’s arrival at disport, where our Shanghai Office Surveyor shall follow-up permanent repairs.
Free Webinar
We are happy to announce that @Tuğrul AK, Senior Surveyor & Partner of our Istanbul Office is the speaker of today's (23/07/20 at 21:00) YSP Istanbul free webinar.
The subject is "The role of the Marine Insurance Surveyor under the current circumstances".
The value of having a GLOBAL NETWORK OF OFFICES
"The value of having a GLOBAL NETWORK OF OFFICES not only for #marine but for the #energy sector as well"
The case in a nutshell:
A MWM genset consuming #biogas installed in a landfill near Oman/Jordan, sustained severe damage as it appears
that one of the connecting rods failed, damaging the engine frame & crankshaft. The engine is still under guarantee by Builders.
Our involvement:
Istanbul Office Surveyor – Attended to monitor the partial dismantling of the engine at suppliers’ workshop in Istanbul.
Associate Surveyor in Germany – Attending at Engine Makers, MWM workshop in Duisburg, for carrying out a
joint inspection of the damaged components, necessary for root cause analysis.
Piraeus Head Office Surveyor – Liaising directly with landfill gas operators for coordinating attendances. Simultaneously, visited Athens biogas landfill (one of the biggest in Europe), operating a series of similar type engines to familiarize
himself with engine’s electronic system.
Sometimes "attending a casualty" means going to an idyllic beach
Sometimes "attending a casualty" means going to an idyllic beach...
A limo tender serving a luxurious mega-yacht run aground some meters off one of the most popular beach bar in Mykonos, at the peak of the summer season.
H&M UWS instructed our Piraeus Head Office. Surveyor's initial attendance commenced with the tender inspection at casualty site and proceeded with removal plan assessment. Agile and sensitive handling required, due to the possibility of pollution and very high value of the tender boat. The assessment of the removal plan completed within 12 hours from receipt of instructions.
Our attending Surveyor managed to coordinate the successful removal operations (via floating dock) without causing any additional damages to the tender boat or any environmental pollution, in less than 48 hours from the time of the accident.
The limo tender was initially inspected in Greece and subsequently loaded on a trailer and transported by road to Holland, where our Surveyor is currently inspecting the aluminum bottom plating and propulsion assembly at builders' workshop.
New Evdemon & Partners Rep-Office in Singapore
NEW EVDEMON & PARTNERS REP-OFFICE IN SINGAPORE
singapore@evdemonpartners.com
24/7 M: +65 9119 8135
We are delighted to announce the latest addition to our global network of offices:
Evdemon & Partners Rep-Office in Singapore, headed by our fellow Senior Surveyor Han JK.
Han JK is well known in the Singapore marine insurance & shipping industry & no stranger to our team. For the last 6 years, he has been our Associate Surveyor in Singapore and has carried out numerous surveys on our behalf in Singapore & South East Asia Pacific Region. Han JK has been a Marine Surveyor for the past 20 years. His professional, proactive, direct and reliable approach when handling a case has been the cornerstone of our collaboration.
Here are some highlights of his career:
General Manager and Principal Surveyor of Maritime Engineers in Singapore
Principal Surveyor overseeing the Braemar Singapore office
Classification Society Surveyor with ABS
Seagoing Marine Engineer holding a Class 1 Chief Engineer Certificate of Competency
Accredited ISO & ISM auditor
Han JK maintains a network of competent surveyors in Australia, Japan, Philippines and Indonesia. A feature which is of particular importance, especially nowadays, during which travel restrictions due to the Covid19 pandemic are still in place.
