The container transport vessels that ply the oceans blue are so large that quick alterations of course and direction is difficult to achieve, if not impossible in most circumstances. This fact was probably in the minds of the pilots of the container transport vessels the CMA CGM Verlaine and Odessa Star the other day, once the pilots that were apparently on board at the time realised the two ships were going to collide in the reportedly poor conditions that existed on the waters at the time.
This collision certainly highlights the energy that’s involved in even the smallest collisions between containerships as the incident apparently resulted in the CMA CGM Verlaine rupturing its ballast tanks and six cargo holds. Hopefully any insurance the owners of the vessels have will cover the cost of the repairs to the ships, so the fact that there were no reported injuries to crew or environment during the accident is the best part of this news. This incident does highlight the possibility of accidents on the busy ocean transport lanes of the world’s waterways and maybe the need for some traffic control system enhancements in the future to help prevent similar accidents between container transports or any freight carrying vessels traveling the oceans of the world.
There will certainly be sceptics who will scoff at the idea of traffic control systems for the busy waterways of the world, but in a sense on many waterways of the world we already have traffic control systems in place. Unfortunately, history has shown that humankind will often put safety issues such as this one on a backburner of a sort, until such time as there is significant loss of life to warrant the issues be looked at. Hopefully, this isn’t the case in this affair and no tragedy will have to occur before we see safety systems put in place to help reduce the possibility of similar accidents occurring in the future.
Tags: freight, freight shipping, freight transport