Two commendable aspects arising from the ONE Apus box collapse

Agree with you. Climate change is an easy excuse for overloaded above the rail container ships. Ships are bigger with more cargo stowed above the rail line so of course you will have more loss during an accident. These storms have always been near the Aleutian island chain this time of year. The North Shore of Oahu didn’t just start getting waves in the last 20 years, the frequency of the swells have not increased.

Alias Harry Hasting
Sir
Yours is very accurate and thought provoking observation/comment.
I have not read the APL China accident investigation report but only some expert comments . If You have a link to this I would greatly appreciate Your help in getting it.

APL China was the first accident ,when the issue of parametric rolling has been recognised as affecting the ships of certain length and hull shape. It does not of course mean it was not known . It was, but ships were smaller then and the only worry was rezonanse rolling which was much less veiled in mystery then parametric. As some sources accurately describe the precondition for parametric roll to occur is the wave length , which must be comparable with ships LOA. Lets say in 0.8-1.2 range , some indicate wave height is also a factor but to a bit lesser degree.

Hence using a simplified formulas and non scientific calculator and also with some hands on sea experience, one can find we are talking about wave lengths 250 mtrs or longer. I my be wrong but have never seen or experienced wind generated waves of such siginficant length. That leaves us with swell and tsunami . Eliminating tsunami due to it,s scarcity ( and such was not reported) it leaves us with swell or not related to parametric roll single event leading to for example to M/E shutdown. ( APL China) or rouge wave or may be a series of them.

One does not need to experience N.Pacific or North Atlantic, although these are the regions, where lot of ships having LOA 250 mtr and greater dwell . Have read a report saying, that for the first time in history of measurements, hurricane Katrina generated regular waves of 90 ft- abt 30 mtr high and that, can scare even the bravest master mariner .

Following Your great tip about the weather, allow me for a quote here:

THE ART OF WEATHER NAVIGATION IS ABOUT AVOIDING SEVERE WEATHER AND NOT ABOUT GETTING IN TO IT OR NAVIGATING STRAIGHT THROU IT.

Would You not agree Sir, with it’s rather obvious and convincing wisdom????

And that brings both of Us to the most fundamental issue which You were so kind to mention.
QUOTE
The master had the chance to choose: to go or not to go.
END QUOTE

I can not believe and I am passionate about this , that present day masters, who are top bananas (actors) in one of the most spectacular events in the history of maritime transportation are not aware and/or do not have sufficient knowledge and hands on experience in navigation , ship handling , meteorology , stability and a truck load of other issues relating to this job/function.

One look at the minimum STCW requirement for master FG unlimited or >>>3000 GRT leaves no doubt , that this minimum is sufficient for an average Joe ( master) to avoid extreme weather and it’s effects -having at his disposal tools and access to information I could only dream about in the 90’s.

In conclusion .
Without reference to Hill Harmony ruling , which imposes sort of straitjacket on SOME managers, who subsequently instruct masters to follow strictly routing service advise ( i was the recipient in 2007 on time chartered cont vsl) ) , one may consider to ask the following question:

What has changed since abt 1970 , that has morphed into sort of mechanism/phenomenon , that
generates such a debilitating effect on the average Joe( master) having a minimum as required by STCW skills ??????

Can I suggest the following research:
P&I Gard article “Safety culture – Managing conflicting goals in shipping operation”
From Titanic to Costa Concordia—a century of lessons not learned by Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs & Erik Hollnagel & Michael Baldauf
Article/text – Improving Safety and Organisational Performance Through A Just Culture
QUOTE on types of ship’s management cultures:
Level 2: Reactive
• Safety is taken seriously every time there is an accident
• Managers try to force compliance with rules and procedures
• Many discussions are held to re-classify incidents
• BAD NEWS IS KEPT HIDDEN
Level 1: Pathological ( 50% of my own experience)
• We leave it to the lawyers or regulators to decide what’s OK
• There are bound to be accidents – this is a dangerous business
• If someone is stupid enough to have an accident, sack them
• BAD NEWS IS UNWELCOME- KILL THE MESSANGER
END QUOTE

P& I Gard news : Ship safety and high reliability organisations
QUOTE:
In general, companies can be divided into four cultural categories, in which different cultural signs dominate. The four categories range from the least committed: “Laissez-faire”, to the most committed: “High reliability”. These four cultural categories are described below.

………………………Cover-up culture ( 50% of my own experience)
Self-interest dominates over company interest. For example, managers’ priority is to maintain their own power, to avoid conflict
and play down problems. If you fail or criticise, you are seen as a threat to the power and the harmony of the working climate.
As a result, people are afraid of failing, reluctant to speak up, have a rigid focus on responsibilities and focus mostly on overall results such as budgets and TIME OF ARRIVAL
There is little co-operation between departments. Hence, company interests ,that are dependent upon several departments
such as planning of off-hire, delivery of spares, communication with crew, cargo troubleshooting, etc., are given lower priority
END QUOTE

Have You or other viewers/participants ever seen currently employed master ” sworn in affidavit” describing , what methods are used by above mentioned cultures ???

Then let me tell You from my own experience:
These methods remind me of the methods used and practised by the most vicious and unscrupulous totalitarian regimes, that existed in the history of mankind:
those masters who challenge the existing environment, who have critical minds, who have the guts and courage to confront the so called office managers, who apply strictly ISM and SMS as per industry guidelines and advise and mentoring of Gurus lika DProf FNI Capt Phil Anderson, who understand the precedence of safety of the crew ,ship and cargo over commercial interests, who issue non-conformity notes to Office, who write critical/negative master reports/reviews, not only exposing office crew incompetence and/or lack of diligence,slack and never mind socialist attitudes but merely hinting it , those masters are eliminated from the circulation by a simple method of denial of future re-employment. But these same cultures do not stop at this. They tip off crewing agents in the country of master’s domicile, using terms like ” difficult to cooperate” , toxic style of command, trouble maker, unacceptable style of correspondence, disturbing the office working harmony and/or similar attributes, what results in effective and air-tight black listing despite explicit MLC rules forbidding such practices.

Using such methods , in 40 or so years of continuous pressure and intimidation and outright blackmail , they have succeeded in creating a new BREED of silent accommodating herd of obedient lambs, malleable, unresisting servants and fetch dogs ,trained to worship their masters/superiors and compete with each other in the ollimpic games of obeisance.

Forgive me for lengthy outburst but I have not trained myself yet in Tweeter style debate utilising only 140 characters. Then I hope readers will tolerate and Editors will accept two more quotes:

1. Men, in order to do evil, must first believe, that what they are doing is good. A.Solzhenitsyn
2. ” Subordinate appearing before his superior should look miserable, stupid and idiotic in order not to embarrass, disconcert and unsettle his superior with subordinate apprehensive faculties and/or wits and/or way of thinking “- Ukaz Carski ( Tzar’s edict)

for the sake of brevity and not to cause to much irritation and outrage, I will skip , what is contained in the 48 RULES OF POWER- rule no.1

Is it not thought provoking??

Cheers