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Human error caused allision in Kiel Canal

The allision of the "Red 7 Alliance", today the "DSV Alliance", with the large southern lock of the Kiel Canal in Brunsbüttel on Jan 17, 2015, was caused by human error, a recently published report by Hark Ocke Diederichs of the Directorate-General for Waterways and Marine found out. What was supposed to be a routine maneuver ended with the ship crashing into the gate of the lock at 9.42 , causing a damage of more than 750 000 Euro. The ship hit the solid cross beams and was torn up underneath the waterline at the bow. Technical problems of the control system were excluded as a cause of the ship suddenly taking up speed upon entering the lock. The "Red7 Alliance" was on the way from Great Yarmouth to Mukran on the island of Rügen. An hour before the allision she could already have moved into the great Northern lock. But the pilot's view was hampered by large helicopter deck, and to be on the safe side, he prefered to use the southern lock. Everything was running smoothly, the front line and the stern line were laid over the bollards, and the ship, 50 meters from the gate, should have stopped now. Instead, it picked up speed. To have a good maneuverability the ship is controlled with two steering propellers. To stop it, both must be rotated 180 degrees, so that the propellers produce a reverse thrust. However, one of the driving levers was in autopilot mode and responded by pushing forward. The other, in manual mode, responded, but produced too little reverse thrust. This situation emerged because the driving lever of the starboard propulsion had previously been placed on autopilot mode which was not noticed by the captain."The cause of the accident therefore was an incorrect operation of the starboard proulsion, the report of the Maritime Casualty Investigation concluded. A subsequent correction of thhe operator error would not have prevented the allision. It would have been helpful if the technique would have referred to this operator error, or would perhaps even avoided it. This was recommended to the manufacturer. German report with photos: http://www.bsu-bund.de/SharedDocs/pdf/DE/Unfallberichte/2016/Untersuchungsbericht_16_15.pdf?__blob=publicationFile

Repairs in Kiel completed - work of Lindenau Yard praised

Repairs of the "Red 7 Alliance" were completed at the Lindenau-Yard in Kiel-Friedrichsort were completed on Jan 31. The ADM Group shipyard in Kiel carried out two weeks of repairs and repainting on the ship in its Dock 11. John Long, Fleet Manager of Vessel Management Services (VMS), praised Lindenau’s “fast and dedicated response - despite our unexpected arrival and the initially unknown extent of the job”. The ship sailed around 8 a.m. bound for Great Yarmouth as next port, ETA Feb 2. Report and photos: http://www.motorship.com/news101/shiprepair-and-conversion/lindenau-tackles-canal-accident-ship http://schiffs-fotos.de/wp/?p=258

Offshore ship docked at Lindenau Yard Kiel for repairs

The "Red 7 Alliance" docked at the Lindenau-Yard in Kiel-Friedrichsort for repairs on Jan 19 at 4 p.m. The ship had left the South Quay in Brunsbüttel on Jan 18 at 5 p.m. bound for Kiel escorted by the German tug "Wulf" (IMO: 9036260) on its transit through the Kiel Canal. The lock will remain out of operation at least until the end of the month, the damage was some 100.000 Euro at least. Divers were sent down for investigations in the run of the day. They found that the engine room was flooded due to a broken hose. It shall be attempted to float the gate and repair it on site. No replacement gate was available with one under repair in Kiel and another out of service. German reports, video and photos: http://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/schleswig-holstein/Nach-Havarie-Das-war-Glueck-ihttp://www.shz.de/lokales/norddeutsche-rundschau/nach-havarie-schleusenkammer-in-brunsbuettel-gesperrt-id8723781.htmlm-Unglueck,nok234.html http://www.forum-schiff.de/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=39#p111393 http://www.nok-photography.de/red7-alliance/