Oasis incident at Freeport Shipyard

[Captain Billy Bob]

Any word on why the dock sank?

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, Pratique said:

 

I haven't looked at an old photo of Oasis to confirm, but that looks like an expansion joint to me.  There would be no need to double over the "fishplate", which is non-structural anyway, unless this is covering an open joint in the balcony deck.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

5 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

 

 

While I am an admirer of European shipyards in general, I have had good and bad experiences in European shipyards, and have had good work done in Caribbean and US shipyards as well.

 

Not sure what you keep harping on the crane about.  The crane did not cause the problem, the crane collapsed because the drydock sank.

Yeah - it seems most folks are harping about the crane...(the effect, not the cause)...

 

 

[Pratique]

7 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

I haven't looked at an old photo of Oasis to confirm, but that looks like an expansion joint to me.  There would be no need to double over the "fishplate", which is non-structural anyway, unless this is covering an open joint in the balcony deck.

Before...

[chengkp75]

It does look different, but I can't tell from the older photo whether there is an expansion joint in the balcony deck, and the overlapping fishplate is just a difference in application by the Cadiz yard, and there was a different type of expansion joint before.

[willde]

7 hours ago, CRUISEFAN0001 said:

Things like cranes in particular are (...) stationary in Cadiz (for example), in contrast to the kind that led to the servicing accident event for Oasis.

 

Quite sure this is incorrect.  They are on a track, as would make sense for work on different areas of various vessels

Edited May 3, 2019 by willde

[CRUISEFAN0001]

7 minutes ago, willde said:

 

Quite sure this is incorrect.  They are on a track, as would make sense for work on different areas of various vessels

Stationary as in "not on a barge or floating"...

[twangster]

Not that the crane is relevant, but cranes do have accidents from time to time all over the world, including cranes mounted on earth.

 

Without knowing the cause of the unintended sinking of the dock everything is speculation.  It could have been human error, it could have been a bad valve or control system failure, it could have been fatigue.  It's possible what ever ship was in that dock next would have experienced the unintended dock sinking.   We'll likely never know.  If it had occurred when a different ship had it's hull cut open to replace an engine or generator that damage may have been far worse.

[twangster]

In 2008 timeframe  when Radiance had a 3rd engine/generator added in the GBSY they filmed it for the TV show National Geographic World's Toughest Fixes.

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/tv/worlds-toughest-fixes/

 

During that show they go into the control room for the floating dock.  Granted they could have updated the control room since then or maybe it's the same as it was back then.

 

 

 

During this sinking of the dry dock to get ready for Radiance a valve sticks open so they radio someone to go down and manually close the valve.  It's more than an up or down button so plenty of opportunity for something in the control system to fail. 

 

Since it's a reality TV show they have to do the doom and gloom thing when they tell us what could go wrong.  In this episode they suggest what could occur if the ship isn't perfectly centered in the dry dock.  Look familiar?

 

 

The dock they used had four cranes in the video and dock #2 is/was the only current dry dock with four cranes so it's possible this is the same dock #2  that Oasis used.  

 

Preview available here:

 

 

The episode is available for $3 USD on Amazon Prime video if you want to watch it.

[Pratique]

Regardless of what the cause was, my sense is that they were pushing the limits of what that dock was designed to handle. Maybe not like Icarus but the whole setup seems like an engineering compromise. I'm no expert, but I would be surprised if that floating dock was originally intended to have a portion of a 225,000 GT ship hanging off of one end. In any event, I am curious to find out what happened and what the next solution will be. Hopefully something better.

[Capt_BJ]

as I mentioned on day one - when I suspected the issue was a failure of the 'floating dock'

 

a lot of these are REALLY REALLY old . . . .

 

and not too many NEW ship repair facilities are being built

 

btw do you know who owns Grand Bahama Ship Yard Limited ?????

 

CARNIVAL!!!!!! Let your conspiracy minds run wild . . . 

Edited May 3, 2019 by Capt_BJ

[fsjosh]

8 minutes ago, Capt_BJ said:

as I mentioned on day one - when I suspected the issue was a failure of the 'floating dock'

 

a lot of these are REALLY REALLY old . . . .

 

and not too many NEW ship repair facilities are being built

 

btw do you know who owns Grand Bahama Ship Yard Limited ?????

 

CARNIVAL!!!!!! Let your conspiracy minds run wild . . . 

 

And Royal Caribbean. They both have ownership stake. 

[Capt_BJ]

"Parent organization: Carnival Corporation & plc"

[chengkp75]

2 hours ago, Capt_BJ said:

"Parent organization: Carnival Corporation & plc"

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/15702-grand-bahama-shipyard-announces-investments-new-execs.html

 

"Both Carnival Corporation and Royal Caribbean Cruises are part of the yard's ownership group."

[Captain Billy Bob]

If they are going to keep bringing these big ships to North America they should consider building a dry dock big enough to service them somewhere in North America.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, Captain Billy Bob said:

If they are going to keep bringing these big ships to North America they should consider building a dry dock big enough to service them somewhere in North America.

There is already a large lagoon between the shipyard and Hawksbill Creek that could be used as an enormous graving dock, even sized to allow oil rigs to drydock.  I suppose that getting the capital is one problem, and getting permits from the Bahamas government is another.

[MrMarc]

It is interesting(sad) that this incident is carrying over to Allure, since they cannot get the Azipod repairs done anywhere right now.

[Captain Billy Bob]

1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

There is already a large lagoon between the shipyard and Hawksbill Creek that could be used as an enormous graving dock, even sized to allow oil rigs to drydock.  I suppose that getting the capital is one problem, and getting permits from the Bahamas government is another.

All it takes is money. They got away with one when the floating dock failed. It could have easily resulted in the loss of many lives. I doubt that that dock was designed to accommodate ships as large as Oasis.

[fsjosh]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

There is already a large lagoon between the shipyard and Hawksbill Creek that could be used as an enormous graving dock, even sized to allow oil rigs to drydock.  I suppose that getting the capital is one problem, and getting permits from the Bahamas government is another.

 

I'm sure the Bahamian government isn't going to object to them doing something to bring more business there. Capital would be the issue, but with what they are lost on this oasis deal, they probably could have paid for it. The more big ships carnival and royal build, the more dry dock time they are going to need. Eventually, not having to take them all across the Atlantic will pay for itself. 

[bajathree]

11 hours ago, MrMarc said:

It is interesting(sad) that this incident is carrying over to Allure, since they cannot get the Azipod repairs done anywhere right now.

It's carrying over significantly to the Celebrity Equinox which was scheduled starting today for a month long "revitalization" at GBSY. They instead are now having to go all the way to Cadiz cutting back on the planned updates and cancelling the addition of new suites/cabins due to taking over 2 weeks out of the month long scheduled dry dock in travel time alone.

Edited May 4, 2019 by bajathree

[ipeeinthepool]

23 minutes ago, bajathree said:

It's carrying over significantly to the Celebrity Equinox which was scheduled starting today for a month long "revitalization" at GBSY. They instead are now having to go all the way to Cadiz cutting back on the planned updates and cancelling the addition of new suites/cabins due to taking over 2 weeks out of the month long scheduled dry dock in travel time alone.

 

According to MarineTraffic, the Equinox is scheduled to get to Cadiz on 5/12 at 21:00.  The Silhouette is next in the que in January 2020, I wonder if they will have a better solution by then.  Since the Silhouette is already in Europe, maybe Celebrity would be better served to cancel one of their European trips rather than make to make another trip to Europe.

[orville99]

21 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

It does look different, but I can't tell from the older photo whether there is an expansion joint in the balcony deck, and the overlapping fishplate is just a difference in application by the Cadiz yard, and there was a different type of expansion joint before.

Took this one back in 2017. Maybe it will help make a determination on what that is:

[bajathree]

2 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

 

According to MarineTraffic, the Equinox is scheduled to get to Cadiz on 5/12 at 21:00.  The Silhouette is next in the que in January 2020, I wonder if they will have a better solution by then.  Since the Silhouette is already in Europe, maybe Celebrity would be better served to cancel one of their European trips rather than make to make another trip to Europe.

Would think there are going to more adjustments to come.

[IrishLassie]

Where is Oasis going when all the repairs are done?  Also, is Allure or Harmony going to Port Canaveral?

[robtulipe]

20 minutes ago, IrishLassie said:

Where is Oasis going when all the repairs are done?  Also, is Allure or Harmony going to Port Canaveral?

Oasis is going to Barcelona for a May 5th embarkation.

Harmony is sailing out of Port Canaveral until at least the end of next year and Allure out of Port Everglades until the latter's TA next March. In October of 2020 it is scheduled to sail out of Miami.

Edited May 4, 2019 by robtulipe