Details emerge in case of MSDF collision with Korean container ship
As an investigation into the collision of a MSDF destroyer and a Korean container ship proceeds, more details are becoming available. This story has been a big topic on 2-channel, where many theories are floating around and some users are putting a lot of effort into investigating the cause of the collision. The Asahi Shimbun’s decision to edit an online article and remove a passage suggesting that the Korean ship may have been at fault has fed the fury.
Here are some images created by Japanese netizens, combined with details that have emerged since yesterday:
Some details from the Chugoku Shimbun:
【速報】護衛艦接近側からの追い越し指示 関門海峡管制官
護衛艦くらまと韓国籍コンテナ船が衝突した事故で海上保安庁は28日、関門海峡をレーダー監視している海上交通センターの管制官が、韓国船に「前方の貨物船は左側から追い越してほしい。前から護衛艦が来ているので注意を」と、護衛艦に近づく形での航行を指示していたことを明らかにした。
In the incident where the destroyer Kurama and the South Korean container ship collided, the Japan Coast guard revealed on the 28th that, the control officer monitoring the Kanmon Strait by radar had advised the South Korean ship to “pass the cargo ship in front on the left side. Take note there is a destroyer approaching from the front”, directing it on a path that would take it closer to the destroyer.
A Google Earth view of the location where the collision took place, created by this Japanese blog:
The red arrow indicates the Japanese ship’s course, while the green arrow indicates the correct course for the Korean container ship. The yellow arrow shows where the container ship crossed into the path of the destroyer.
An English article from Mainichi has also provided some interesting information, including a phrase pointing out that the destroyer might have been able to take evasive action and avoid the collision:
Defense Ministry and other officials said it was a rule for vessels passing through the Kanmon Strait between the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Honshu to keep to the right. The Kurama, which was heading west, was on the Yamaguchi Prefecture (Honshu) side of the strait and the Carina Star was on the Kitakyushu side. However, coast guard officials said the collision occurred on the Yamaguchi Prefecture side, and a freighter was traveling in front of the container ship.
Based on an explanation from the company that owns the container ship and on the state of damage of the two vessels, officials say there is a high possibility that the accident occurred when the container ship steered to the left to pass the freighter in front of it and entered the path of the Kurama. Coast guard officials are investigating whether the destroyer’s crash avoidance measures were insufficient.
Keep an eye on the comments section of this post for more details, as this site’s readers are really good at finding up-to-date information. Almost all of the information of in this post comes from comments left by Helical under yesterday’s post about the collision.
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I wouldn’t read too much into this. Sounds basically like standard procedure. Anytime there is a collision at sea, blame is rarely assigned to only one vessel, AFAIK. (similar to traffic accidents in Japan.)
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・・・・これはカリナスターが強い潮流に押し流されて、舵の修正が遅れた可能性が高いです・・・・どちらにせよ海上自衛隊の護衛艦「くらま」側に非はありません。「くらま」の右側は陸地が近く浅瀬が広がっており、これ以上回避する余地がありませんでした。
http://obiekt.seesaa.net/article/131449807.html
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translation:
There is a high probability that the Korean canister ship was late making a course correction after being affected by a strong tidal current.
Even taking tat into account, the Japanese destroyer kuruma was not at fault. On the ship’s right, the shoal is wide, so there was no space to evade [the korean ship].
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I’ll have to think about this. You have to be going faster than the current if you want to steer. I know that the tidal currents can rip through this area (not sure how fast, though).
If the Carina Star was doing 12 knots and the slow ship was only doing 6 knots, it seems the Carina Star should have had no difficultly maintaining course, even with the current.
I’m not saying it wouldn’t be a bit tricky – especially if the graphic is correct and the Carina star had that much beam to the current. Indeed, though, piloting in restricted space with the current can certainly be nerve wracking, since you have to maintain a faster speed than maybe you would otherwise.
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Ah, that’s one site I should have checked myself.
There is a link to another article in that article, to a Japan Coast Guard page specifically pointing out navigational hazards and special rules when passing ships in the in the Moji point on the Kanmon strait where the waters are the narrowest.
Because the flow of water is fast, ships are required to maintain a minimum speed of 3 knots to maintain control.
And the warning in red points out the following.
The comments point out that whatever the case, the Kurama could not have avoided the collision and should not be held responsible, as there is a wide shallow area to it’s starboard side (as stated in ponta’s and Deepspacebeans’ comment). Apparently some people on TV (e.g. a Tokai University prof on NHK) have accused the Kurama of not doing enough to avoid the oncoming ship, which the commenters say is absurd because moving any more right would have grounded the Kurama, and the iron rule of collision avoidance on the seas is to to turn right.
The Carina Star is supposed to be a ship that passes through that area regularly and often, so it should have been familiar to a high degree with the environment and the conditions it would expect to find itself in during navigation.
The accident seems to be caused by at least the following factors.
1) The Carina Star not using enough prudence in selecting the timing to overtake the slower ship in front, which ended up in it trying to pass the ship in front in one of the most hazardous points of the strait. It may have been possible to foresee the timing and change its speed to avoid passing at the narrowest point.
2) The Japan Coast Guard responding to the Carina Star’s request to pass the slow ship in front by advising it to pass to the left. Although, this is not entirely mistaken as passing to the right would have risked grounding the Carina Star on the shallow areas near the shores. Also, telling it to slow down may have risked the Carina Star losing control in an area with a fast flow.
3) The Carina Star may have been swept aside by the fast currents, and turning unexpectedly into the path of the Kurama when it did try to pass.
It’s been mentioned by Internet commenters and the news alike that the advise dispensed by the Japan Coast Guard is just that: advise, and should not be taken as any form of authoritative command. The captain is ultimately responsible for his own ship’s actions.
On a side note, it seems the people on the web are once again angry at the news this time for using language that implies the Japan Coast Guard “guided” or “ordered” the actions of the Carina Star, and wanting to place blame on authority figures for any happenings.
護衛艦衝突、海保誘導が原因か
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/national/news/20091028-OYT1T01369.htm
“Destroyer collision perhaps caused by guidance of Coast Guard”
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This true, but this is most applicable when a ship is heading into the current.
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I forgot to post the link, though it’s included in the page that ponta linked to.
関門海域における特定航法
http://www6.kaiho.mlit.go.jp/moji/linkpage/anzenunkou/1-3.htm
Here’s the entire text before the warning.
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Ah – wait a minute, there was a westerly current, so the container ship was headed into the current. Wow, makes more sense now.
Maybe there was a bit of loss in translation on my part – when I hear the words boat, current, and push, I always think about heading downstream, with the current.
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So the Korean ship thought the freighter in front of them was moving too slow, and decided that overtaking it was a good idea, while ignoring warnings that another vessel (MSDF destroyer) was moving towards them from the opposite direction.
Sorry, this is the fault of the crew onboard the Korean ship for not going with the flow and presenting a naval hazard to others. If this is too hard to swallow, replace “ship”, “freighter”, and “vessel” with “car” – but the result is the same.
This has nothing to do with race – the crew on the Korean ship screwed up big time – so you haters from Koreasentry can take a hike.
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The conditions in the kanmon strait can by very difficult and the idea that a ship is a car is ridicules. In a car the road thus not moves in the opposite directions or is pushing you along. Under the bridge the currents are very fast (up to 8 nautical miles an hour). And there’s a turn after the bridge with impairs your visibilities. So is kamon vts tells you that you can pass the ship in front you have to trust them its possible. Secondly if the navy ships was listing to the vhf, it also shut know that the Korean ship was pass ship and could take action. There is no simple answer to the question of blame. There never is in the maritime world
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The road is icy, strong winds are present, and the Carina Star is quickly approaching a bend. The reports said that the shoreside of the MSDF destroyer is very wide and shallow, in this case it would have been a steep cliff next to its side of the road.
Given the conditions, would you have told the MSDF to get stuck in shallow waters, just so the Carina Star can successfully overtake the slower freighter? The answer is no – the Carina Star was moving too fast and should at least slow down in accordance to the traffic flow. High speed coupled with unfavorable conditions is a recipe for a disaster waiting to happen.
Your logic astounds me.
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An article by Yomiuri Shinbun, last updated at 15:26 on 29 Otc.:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20091029-00000708-yom-soci
A rough (and partial) translation:
The 7th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters (Kitakyushu) had investigated AIS (Automatic Identification System) data of Carina Star and the freighter. According to their investigation, Carina Star approached quickly to the freighter, in a speed about twice faster than the freighter ahead of it, and was about to collide with the freighter. Their investigation suggest that Carina Star quickly turned left to avoid a collision with the freighter and nearly turned sideways, then collided with the MSDF destroyer Kurama which was navigating on the opposite lane. Crews of the freighter were notified that Carina Star was approaching, and were advised to move right. The freighter slowed down when it was steered to right and then was about to collide with Carina Star. The 7th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters strengthen suspicion that there was a problem in controlling Carina Star, and is hearing from crews of Carina Star on suspicion of professional negligence resulting in endangering ocean traffic.
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An article from Sankei Shinbun, last updated at 20:28 on 30 Oct.:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20091030-00000095-san-soci
On the collision accident of the MSDF destroyer Kurama and the Korean container ship [Carina Star], it is highly possible that the Panamanian freighter, which was navigating ahead of the container ship, reduced speed immediately before the accident, revealed by collected information from the 7th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters (Kitakyushu) on 30[th Oct].
The 7th Guard infers it is highly possible that the container ship, which was navigating from the behind of the freighter, quickly approached at about twice speed to the freighter as it slowed down and turned to the left, and then this led to the accident.
Japan Transfort Safety Board, on the same day, investigated the freighter anchoring at the Fukuyama harbor in Fukuyama city, Hiroshima prefecture, and proceeded verification about the situation of navigation and the exchange with the traffic control officer at that time.
According to the 7th Guard, about 4 minutes before the collision, in response to the warning, issued by the traffic control officer of the Traffic Advisory Service Center of the Kanmon Strait, for calling attention to the container ship behind of the freighter, the freighter replied “Let them pass on the left.” The traffic control officer instructed [adviced] the container ship, “The freighter will move to the right. Please pass it on the left.”
It is supposed that the freighter reduced speed after that. The container ship turned to the left just behind the freighter, nearly turned sideways to and collided with Kurama.
——–
A follow-up from Yomiuri Shinbun:
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20091030-00000565-yom-soci
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Additional information: the actual speed of ships
The freighter — about 6 knots (about 183 m/min.)
The container ship — 12-14 knots (about 367-433 m/min.)
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