Cargo vessels float adrift in the Baltic almost daily

Cruise ships and ferries rarely experience total engine failures

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Almost every day there is at least one ship floating adrift in the Baltic Sea.
      This was the measured estimate of maritime rescue chief Samu Hiljanen from the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) in Turku, when he was interviewed by Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday in connection with the recent “blackout” or shut-down of the engines of the Viking Mariella cruiseferry.
     
On her way from Stockholm to Helsinki , the Mariella’s main engines suddenly failed in the middle of the Baltic Sea during the night between Saturday and Sunday.
      The ship floated out of control for about an hour, before the crew managed to restart its machines after having removed trapped air from the ship’s fuel system.
      A failure with an automatic system had caused some air to get mixed with fuel.
      Mats Stormblad, master of Mariella’s sister ship Gabriella, demonstrated his vessel’s engine room operations to Helsingin Sanomat.
      According to Stormblad, it is very rare that a passenger vessel’s engines should fail completely. The two propellers are rotated by four independent engines, and the electric systems have backup systems.
      “I have only ever experienced one blackout, many years ago”, the veteran sea captain explains. At that time he was employed by another company.
      Usually the engines get restarted in about 15 minutes.
      The ships that go adrift in the waters near Finland are almost without exception cargo vessels.
     
In terms of size, the ships sailing in the Baltic Sea are huge.
      According to Stormblad, the risk of an accident is still very small, even if the engines fail.
      “On the open sea this is not a problem. An engine failure is more problematic in the archipelago, but then we can lower the anchors”, Stormblad explains.
      Lowering the anchors takes 10-15 minutes. While anchored, a ship can move around in an area of 200-250 metres in diameter. A large Baltic Sea cruiseferry is just under 200 metres in length.
      If the engines fail near a harbour, then tugs can be called for help.
     
Stormblad cannot imagine a situation where a cruise ship or ferry would have to be evacuated because of a blackout, so long as there is at least some open water around it.
      An out-of-control ship will stay upright, even in rough seas.
      “In the open sea there is room to circulate around an unmanageable ship. There have been incidents, though, where a vessel that has lost steerage and is drifting has run aground”, says maritime inspector Esa Saari from the Finnish Maritime Administration.
     
There is a significantly larger number of cargo vessels than passenger vessels sailing in the Baltic Sea.
      Therefore the likelihood of an engine or electronics failure among them is greater.
      Also, the cargo ships’ technology is older than that of the cruiseferries.
      “We do not even hear of all the incidents”, Saari says.


Links:
  M/S Mariella (Wikipedia)
  Finnish Maritime Administration

Helsingin Sanomat