World News
Class Society Calls for Inspections to Stop Repeat of MOL Comfort Sinking
After investigating the June sinking of the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) containership MOL Comfort, Japanese classification society ClassNK has proposed safety measures to avoid similar incidents.
The ClassNK Casualty Investigation Team determined that the fracture in the hull started at the bottom part of the vessel.
Inspections of the MOL Comfort's sister vessels found buckling deformations on the bottom shell plates near the centre line of midship areas, but the team said it is not yet clear whether that type of deformation caused the accident.
MOL said soon after the sinking that it would inspect and strengthen the hulls of six of the vessel's sister ships.
Based on its findings, ClassNK recommends that the crews of other large containership inspect vessels' midship sections as far as possible to look for deformations of the bottom shell plates, and the class society will provide qualified surveyors to attend inspections free of charge.
If consecutive deformations in the transverse direction are found on the plates, ClassNK recommends occasional survey and will send surveyors as needed.
The investigation team continues to look into the MOL Comfort incident, working together with the Committee on Large Container Ship Safety.
The MOL Comfort broke into two parts after running into bad weather in the Indian Ocean about 200 nautical miles off the Yemen coast on June 17, and both sections later sank.
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