Truck comes loose and bursts through rear door of NI bound ferry.

Run_to_da_hills · 29-01-2009 12:47PM #1

A passenger ferry travelling from Scotland to Northern Ireland cut short its journey after a lorry onboard broke free and forced open the vessel's rear door.

The Clyde Coastguard said the lorry was hanging out of the rear of the ferry when it returned to the Scottish port of Stranraer last night.

Could have easily been another Hearld of Free Enterprise if it took in water.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7857274.stm

Cookie_Monster · 29-01-2009 01:18PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Could have easily been another Hearld of Free Enterprise if it took in water.

Stop trying to sensationalise it.

It was the back door for a start not the front and pretty unlikely to happen anyway unless very high seas. Plus they were instantly aware of it due to the noise and acted accordingly.

Run_to_da_hills · 29-01-2009 01:52PM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Stop trying to sensationalise it.

It was the back door for a start not the front and pretty unlikely to happen anyway unless very high seas. Plus they were instantly aware of it due to the noise and acted accordingly.

THe consequences for this could have been desasterous had it been any way rough as there was no way of securing the rear door shut.

The Hearld of Free Enterprise capsized seconds, in calm conditions and shallow water and just 100 yards from the shore

shamwari · 29-01-2009 02:32PM

The HSS concerned has its loading doors at the rear which are several meters above the waterline. Even if the ship was going backwards at the time, it still wouldn't have sunk.

Cookie_Monster · 29-01-2009 02:38PM

shamwari wrote: »

The HSS concerned has its loading doors at the rear which are several meters above the waterline. Even if the ship was going backwards at the time, it still wouldn't have sunk.

Where'd it say it was HSS?
If this is the case +1 to the comment and it reinforces my previous comment even more

Cookie_Monster · 29-01-2009 02:42PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The Hearld of Free Enterprise capsized in seconds, in calm conditions and shallow water and just 100 yards from the shore

Wikipedia wrote:

The entire event took place in less than a minute. The water quickly reached the ship's electrical systems, destroying both main and emergency power and leaving the ship in darkness.

The ship ended on her side half-submerged in shallow water 1km from the shore

At least try and be accurate:rolleyes:

Tabnabs · 29-01-2009 02:46PM

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story eh RTDH

Run_to_da_hills · 29-01-2009 02:53PM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

At least try and be accurate:rolleyes:

" The disaster had unfolded in just 90 seconds, in calm conditions and shallow water, only 100 yards (91m) from the shore". :rolleyes:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/6/newsid_2515000/2515923.stm

Cookie_Monster · 29-01-2009 03:01PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

" The disaster had unfolded in just 90 seconds.

I'll concede distance but 90 is hardly a few seconds....

Was it this that attracted you to the story? HERE

1987: Zeebrugge disaster was no accident

Cookie_Monster · 29-01-2009 03:02PM

Dyflin wrote: »

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story eh RTDH

5-6 m seas may have done it eh?

Run_to_da_hills · 29-01-2009 03:05PM

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

I'll concede distance but 90 is hardly a few seconds....

10 seconds or 90 seconds what difference, :rolleyes:

It still didn't give any extra time tor the 193 souls lost.

Alun · 29-01-2009 03:07PM

Didn't it capsize just outside the harbour walls? If so that could easily be a kilmetre or more away from the berth .. Zeebrugge harbour is quite large.

BTW, this is bringing back some sad memories for me .. lost a work colleague and her husband to be on that one, and another work colleague missed the same ferry by literally minutes.

Run_to_da_hills · 29-01-2009 03:19PM

Alun wrote: »

Didn't it capsize just outside the harbor walls? If so that could easily be a kilometer or more away from the berth .. Zeebrugge harbour is quite large.

BTW, this is bringing back some sad memories for me .. lost a work colleague and her husband to be on that one, and another work colleague missed the same ferry by literally minutes.

I was common practice back then for all bow opening ferries to do 180 degree turn around within the harbour with the doors opened and have them closed leaving the harbour entrance, some say it was for extra ventilation. When I worked in Dunlaoghaire Harbour in the 80ies we use to to witness it daily with the ST Columba, it all stopped quickly after this incident.

John R · 29-01-2009 03:45PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

I was common practice back then for all bow opening ferries to do 180 degree turn around within the harbour with the doors opened and have them closed leaving the harbour entrance, some say it was for extra ventilation. When I worked in Dunlaoghaire Harbour in the 80ies we use to to witness it daily with the ST Columba, it all stopped quickly after this incident.

None of which makes your opening comment any more accurate, this incident was not nearly another Herald. The HSS could go continuously with all it's doors open without any risk of taking in water due to it's design, even in rough seas no more than light spray would enter it's vehicle decks, they are simply too high. Even if water did get in modern Ro-Ro ferrys are designed to prevent the free movement of water that caused Herald to roll and finally even if all that wasn't enough the basic catemaran design of the HSS would prevent a large build-up of water from overbalancing the ship.

Alun · 29-01-2009 03:47PM

Ok, I've done some Googling. You can download the full MAIB report on the disaster here http://www.maib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/herald_of_free_enterprise/herald_of_free_enterprise_report.cfm

According to them, the final resting place was at 51 22 28.5N 3 11 26E, which if you enter them into Google Earth gives you a position over a kilometre from the outer harbour breakwaters, so where this "100 yards from the shore" (which is more like 5km away) comes from is anyone's guess. Also all the photographs of the salvage operation show it clearly taking place in open water with no sign of any harbour infrastructure nearby.

Also according to the report the ship left it's berth in the inner harbour at 18.05, and the "outer mole" (I assume this is the outer harbour wall) at 18.24 and capsized 4 minutes later.

I can only assume the BBC reports were hastily put together ones at the scene and weren't revised later.

lostexpectation · 31-01-2009 07:22PM

can't believe this people were stuck on the ship and no other way to get off other then lifted down one by one could the both not side up to the harbour somewhere and use gangplanks, surely its got more then one boarding method.

Capt'n Midnight · 01-02-2009 03:50PM

not much danger of water getting in there

all they have is one cherry picker ??
how much would it cost to hire a helicopter ?

having people stranded for 24 hours a big worry
200 people on board and it can take 1,200 , a week to disembark ??
what if there was a fire ???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7857643.stm

BrianD · 01-02-2009 06:05PM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

not much danger of water getting in there

all they have is one cherry picker ??
how much would it cost to hire a helicopter ?

having people stranded for 24 hours a big worry
200 people on board and it can take 1,200 , a week to disembark ??
what if there was a fire ???

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/south_of_scotland/7857643.stm

I presume that if there was a fire that they would have abandoned ship and used the life boats. Under the circumstances this was not a situation that required the passengers to be disembarked under emergency conditions. The passengers were in no danger.

The weather played a major factor here and a helicopter would not have been any better and would have taken longer to take off the passengers and would have meant that an important rescue service would have been diverted to a non emergency task.

Some references were made to the Herald of Free enterprise which bear no similarity to this situation. It is a known risk to all ferries that the vehicle doors could be breached due to vehicles becoming dislodged in heavy weather. The Herald disaster was as a result of a proceedure where the ferry operator went to sea with the bow doors open. It was a practice that led directly to disaster. It would not have happened had the doors been shut before putting to sea. This appears to be a genuine mishap (assuming that the truck was securec properly in the first place).

Truck comes loose and bursts through rear door of NI bound ferry.

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