LR Brought in to Help with Mol Comfort Investigation

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Thursday July 4, 2013

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) said today it has appointed Lloyd's Register (LR) as a technical consultant to determine what caused their containership MOL Comfort to break in two during inclement weather last month.

MOL says it will seek LR's counsel about measures to determine both the cause of the incident, and to reinforce the safety of MOL Comfort's six sister vessels, a programme previously announced would be undertaken as an "extra preventive measure."

"LR has abundant experience, knowledge, and expertise in approving the design drawings and shipbuilding/post-delivery inspections of many large-size containerships," MOL said in today's statement.

MOL said that since the June 17, 2013 incident, which occurred around 200 nautical miles off the coast of Yemen, it has been "going all out" to determine the cause.

The aft section of the vessel sank last week at a water depth of about 4,000m, meaning salvage of that part of the ship is not possible.

The fore part of the vessel is continuing to be towed toward the Arabian Gulf, the operation having been briefly interrupted on July 1 when the tow wire was disconnected.

Ship & Bunker News Team
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