naturalfeature:north sea

  • Small Town Near Hamburg Said to Be Likely Choice for LNG Plant - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-07/small-town-near-hamburg-said-to-be-likely-choice-for-lng-plant

    A small port city near Hamburg is the leading choice of Angela Merkel’s government for the first liquefied natural gas terminal in Germany, according to people familiar with the thinking of senior ministers.

    The town on the Elbe River, #Brunsbuettel, is competing with rival bids from the city of #Stade and the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven for federal aid that’s key to unlocking investment in the terminal. The Economy and Energy Ministry in Berlin is backing the bid of Brunsbuettel partly due to its proximity to Hamburg, said two people familiar with the government’s thinking.

    #Brunsbüttel est au débouché de l’Elbe sur son estuaire et à l’entrée du canal de Kiel, pourrait (peut-être) permettre d’éviter d’avoir recours à un pilote maritime de l’Elbe #Lotsenbrüderschaft_Elbe)…

    #Stade, plus en amont sur l’Elbe, à mi-chemin de Hambourg.

  • Researchers Recreate #Rogue_Wave in Lab, Shedding Light on How They Form in Open Ocean – gCaptain
    https://gcaptain.com/researchers-recreate-rogue-wave-in-lab-shedding-light-on-how-they-form-in-

    Researchers at the Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh have worked out the unique set of conditions that allow for the creation of ‘freak’ or ‘rogue’ waves that can seemingly appear without warning and pose a danger to ships and mariners at sea.

    During the study, the team set out to recreate the conditions that led to famous Draupner freak wave, one of the first confirmed observations of a freak wave ever recorded. The famous wave was observed on the January 1, 1995 in the North Sea by measurements made on the Draupner Oil Platform.
    […]
    nterestingly, the wave they created also resembled the ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’, also known as ‘The Great Wave’, a woodblock print published in the early 1800s by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusa, which is believed to depict a freak, or ‘rogue’, wave.

    The researchers hope that this study will lay the groundwork for being able to predict these potentially catastrophic and hugely damaging waves that occur suddenly in the ocean without warning.

    A demonstration of the wave can be seen in the video below:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWWe9PMuVng

    #vague_scélérate

  • Norway awards #Equinor license to build #CO2_storage under seabed | Agricultural Commodities | Reuters
    https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL8N1ZB3BN

    Equinor has won a license to develop carbon dioxide (CO2) storage under the North Sea, Norway’s oil ministry said on Friday, part of a push to combat climate change.

    Equinor is expected to submit a development plan this year, with parliament making a final decision in 2020 or 2021.

    Proponents of carbon capture and storage (CCS) say countries need the technology to help fulfil pledges made around the time of the breakthrough Paris climate change agreement in 2015.

    But environmentalists say is a costly technology that will perpetuate the status quo when rapid and deep cuts to energy use are needed to limit global warming.

    #CSC #captage_de_CO2
    ex-#Statoil

  • Le porte container Yantian Express (Hapag-Lloyd ) en feu avec ses 7500 containers à 1000 Km de la cote est du Canada

    https://gcaptain.com/hapag-lloyd-containership-yantian-express-on-fire-off-east-coast-of-canada
    https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/press/releases/2019/01/containers-caught-fire-on-board-the-yantian-express.html

    A fire has broke out aboard a Hapag-Lloyd containership in the North Atlantic off the east coast of Canada.

    In a statement posted to its website, Hapag-Lloyd said the fire started January 3 in one container on the deck of the Yantian Express and has spread to additional containers.

    Efforts to extinguish the fire were launched immediately but were suspended due to a significant deterioration of weather conditions.

    At the time of the update, the ship was located approximately 650 nautical miles off the coast of Canada.

    The crew of 8 officers and 15 seafarers are unharmed, Hapag-Lloyd said.

    The ship was sailing from Colombo, Sri Lanka to Halifax, via the Suez Canal, where it was expected to arrive on January 4, according to AIS ship tracking data. 

    The U.S. Coast Guard said Friday afternoon that it is coordinating the response efforts to ensure the safety of the crew.

    Another commercial vessel, Happy Ranger, was just 20 miles from the position of the Yantian Express and has diverted to provide assistance. A commercial tugboat is also en route.

    The Coast Guard said it is monitoring the situation. 

    The 7,510 TEU vessel 320-meters-long and is flagged in German flag. The ship operates in the East Coast Loop 5 (EC5) service. It was built in 2002.

    “It is still too early to make a precise estimate of any damage to the vessel or its cargo. Hapag-Lloyd is closely cooperating with all relevant authorities,” Hapag-Lloyd said.

    Both the Yantian Express and Happy Ranger are participating in the Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue System (AMVER) program. 

    “Thanks to the participation of mariners in the AMVER system, we were able to coordinate a quick response,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Kelly Badal, operations unit watchstander at the Fifth District command center. “This system is crucial to coordinating nearby vessels to provide assistance when an emergency arises far from Coast Guard assets.”

    No pollution or injuries have been reported. 

    • The incident adds to a busy start to the year in terms of maritime accidents.
      On December 31, the car carrier Sincerity Ace suffered a fire with five fatalities in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Hawaii. This ship is now abandoned, adrift and the fire continues on board.
      On January 1, the mega containership MSC ZOE lost an estimated 270 containers overboard in heavy weather in the North Sea. No injuries were reported. 
      On January 2, a 308-foot Chinese-flagged fish carrier, named Ou Ya Leng No. 6, ran aground on an uninhabited atoll in the Marshall Islands. Currently the crew of 24 remain on board the vessel. 

    • Yantian Express Abandoned in North Atlantic Due to Ongoing Container Fire – gCaptain
      https://gcaptain.com/yantian-express-abandoned-in-north-atlantic-due-to-ongoing-container-fire


      MV Yantian Express, sous son nom précédent _MV Shanghai Express, navire sous pavillon allemand

      The crew of the containership Yantian Express has been evacuated as the container fire continues to burn on board the ship in the North Atlantica, Hapag-Lloyd said in an update on Sunday.

      The fire started in one container on January 3rd and has since spread to other containers.

      Due to bad weather conditions, the fire has not been successfully contained and has significantly increased in intensity at times, according to Hapag-Lloyd. The salvage tug Smit Nicobar is on scene fighting the fire but as of the latest update, the fire had not been extinguished.

      The crew of the Yantian Express, comprised of 8 officers and 16 crew, has now been evacuated to the Smit Nicobar. All are unharmed, the company reported.

      The ship was last reported to be approximately 800 nautical miles off the coast of Canada (Nova Scotia).

      Further developments of the situation on the Yantian Express are being monitored closely, and the firefighting efforts with the salvage tug are ongoing,” Hapag-Lloyd said in its update.

      The company added that it could not make a precise estimate of any damage to the ship or its cargo.

  • MSC Zoe Loses Up to 270 Containers Overboard in North Sea - PHOTOS – gCaptain
    https://gcaptain.com/dutch-coastguard-msc-zoe-loses-hundreds-of-containers-overboard-in-north-s

    The Dutch Coastguard has issued a navigational warning after an ultra-large containership lost scores of containers while underway in the North Sea.

    The ship, MSC ZOE, was in German waters when it lost the containers in heavy seas between Vlieland, Netherlands and the German Bight in the southeastern North Sea on New Year’s Day.

    The Coastguard initially reported about 30 containers lost. However, an update Wednesday morning said it now understands that a whopping 270 containers went overboard.

    Photos released Wednesday by Germany’s Havariekommando shows toppled boxes both fore and aft of the ship’s superstructure:


    Photo : Havariekommando

    The Coastguard is warning ships in the vicinity keep an eye out for containers floating in the water.

    At least 21 containers with loose goods have washed up on the Dutch islands of Vlieland, Terschelling and Ameland.
    […]
    The contents of all lost containers has not been confirmed, however at least three are reported to contain hazardous materials.

    The Coastguard is warning the public not to handle or approach any of the containers.

    #Îles_de_la_Frise-Occidentale

    • Dutch authorities demand clean-up costs from Swiss shipping line | Reuters
      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-shipping-containers-idUSKCN1OY19N


      A handout photo made available by the central command for maritime emergencies Havariekommando on their website on January 3, 2019 shows containers onboard the MSC ZOE vessel. Up to 270 containers had fallen off the Panamanian-flagged MSC ZOE, one of the world’s biggest container ships, in rough weather near the German island of Borkum and floated southwest toward Dutch waters.
      Havariekommando/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT

      Dutch authorities will hold Swiss shipping line MSC liable for the cost of cleaning up debris from more than 270 cargo containers that fell off one of its vessels and washed up on shore, officials said on Friday.

      The Dutch coastguard said a criminal investigation had been launched by prosecutors into the incident, one of the largest of its kind off the coast of the Netherlands.

      The containers, some holding hazardous chemicals, fell off one of the world’s largest container ships, the MSC Zoe, during a North Sea storm on Wednesday in German waters near the island of Borkum.

      Roughly 35 containers have been located and the remainder were lost at sea, Water Management Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen wrote in a letter to parliament. “Those responsible (MSC) will be held liable,” she wrote.

      Among the lost goods were car parts, refrigerators, toys and furniture, she wrote. “Several containers of hazardous materials were onboard. It is unclear how many fell off,” it said.

      At least one container load of organic peroxide, a strong bleaching agent that can cause injury on contact with skin, was lost, the letter said. Residents were told not to touch 25-kg bags found on the shore.

    • Rough weather hampers clean-up of North Sea container spill | Reuters
      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-shipping-containers-idUSKCN1P31SQ


      A handout aerial photo made available by the Dutch Coastguard on January 3, 2019 shows floating container that have fallen from the container ship MSC ZOE.
      Dutch Coastguard/Handout via REUTERS

      Clean-up efforts after a container ship spill off the Dutch coast are being hampered by rough weather although progress is being made, the Swiss based vessel’s owner MSC said on Wednesday.

      In one of the worst incidents off the coast of the Netherlands, more than 250 containers - some holding hazardous chemicals - fell off the MSC Zoe, one of the world’s largest container ships, during a North Sea storm on Jan. 2.

      This week, a storm is impacting the area being cleaned and unfortunately this will interrupt some operations,” MSC said on Wednesday. The accident happened in German waters near the Dutch island of Borkum.

      MSC, the world’s no. 2 container shipping group, said it had made significant progress on the Dutch islands of Terschelling, Vlieland, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog in the Wadden Sea and on the mainland, with a total of 1,220 tonnes of debris collected so far.

    • Questions on #stowage as enquiries begin into how MSC Zoe spilled 281 boxes - The Loadstar
      https://theloadstar.co.uk/questions-on-stowage-as-enquiries-begin-into-how-msc-zoe-spilled-281-

      There have also been questions about the stowage plan of the 23,000 teu containership – in particular, the lashing of rows seven, eight and nine, from where the boxes fell overboard.

      The former managing director of salvage company Smit, Tak Klaas Reinigert, now resident on Schiermonnikoog, one of the islands affected by spills of styrene and other particles, told The Loadstar that, while the north-west force nine wind in the area may have been a hazard for small coasters,it should not have been a problem for a vessel as large as the MSC Zoe.

      He also suggested the speed of the MSC Zoe when the incident occurred needed to be investigated, as well as the lashing of containers on top of the vessel. These fell off the midship, which he said was “odd”.

      Meanwhile, Dr Bart Kuipers, port economist at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, said more thorough research needed to be carried out into the possible hazards involved in deploying ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs).

      Dutch Coast Guard pictures show the containers which landed in the sea had not been not secured by lashing rods.

      Niek Stam, an official at the FNV trade union, said it was hard to secure containers in rows seven, eight and nine in such way.

      Vessels can be loaded according to an automated loading scheme. Only the top rows are manually loaded. As a rule, #lashing is done by well-trained men, but not in every port,” he added.

      In the case of the MSC Zoe, the last port of call prior to its arrival at Bremerhaven was Sines, in Portugal, and Mr Stam questioned whether the containers that went overboard had been loaded there.

      Nobody talks about the origin of those,” he told The Loadstar.

      #arrimage #saisine

    • Swiss shipping line starts clean up of Dutch waters after container spill | Reuters
      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-netherlands-shipping-containers-idUSKCN1P60BC


      A handout aerial photo made available by the Dutch Coastguard on January 3, 2019 shows the container ship MSC ZOE. Up to 270 containers had fallen off the Panamanian-flagged MSC ZOE, one of the world’s biggest container ships, in rough weather near the German island of Borkum and floated southwest toward Dutch waters.
      Dutch Coastguard/Handout via REUTERS

      Swiss shipping line MSC has started cleaning up Dutch sea waters, ten days after it lost nearly 300 containers from one of its largest cargo vessels in a storm.

      The clean up will likely take months”, Dutch water authorities spokesman Edwin de Feijter said on Saturday. “The largest part of the debris has been located, but there are still parts missing.

      291 containers, some holding hazardous chemicals, fell off one of the world’s largest container ships, the MSC Zoe, on Jan. 2 in German waters near the island of Borkum during a North Sea storm.

      Two salvage ships left the harbor at IJmuiden, near Amsterdam, on Friday night, heading towards a container north of the tiny Rottumerplaat island, which is blocking an important shipping route between Germany and the Netherlands.

      Work was planned to start at midday on Saturday, but rough weather looked set to delay the operation, De Feijter said, adding that 238 objects had been identified in the water so far.

      Those objects are not all entire containers, they can also be part of the cargo lost from broken ones.

      Seventeen containers washed up on shore on the Dutch islands of Terschelling, Vlieland, Ameland and Schiermonnikoog, with the debris of many others littering the islands’ beaches.

      MSC, the world’s no. 2 container shipping group, on Wednesday said it had made significant progress on the Dutch islands, with a total of 1,220 tonnes of debris collected so far.

      Dutch authorities last week said they would hold MSC liable for the cost of cleaning up the waters.

      Roughly 100 soldiers joined the clean-up operation last week, while local authorities and volunteers had already gathered up tonnes of waste from several kilometers (miles) of coastline.

    • MSC Zoe Incident : Lost Container Count Jumps to 345 – gCaptain
      https://gcaptain.com/msc-zoe-incident-lost-container-count-jumps-to-345

      The estimated number of containers lost from the MSC Zoe during a North Sea storm in early January has risen to at least 345, more than 50 containers more than initially thought, the Dutch agency Rijkswaterstaat said Wednesday following a report from the shipowner. 

      The new assessment comes after more of remaining containers on board the MSC Zoe, one of the world’s largest containerships, have now been unloaded at the Port of Gdansk in Poland.
      […]
      While many of the containers sank, about two dozen washed up on the shores of the Wadden Islands, an island chain in the northern Netherlands
      […]
      The number of containers with hazardous substances remains unchanged, the agency said.[…] Rijkswaterstaat says it expects a final count of the number of containers lost from the shipowner next week.

  • #Calais police using #drones to arrest migrants before they cross Channel

    Police in Calais are using drones to locate migrants preparing to cross the Channel by boat, so that they can be arrested before they reach the water.

    In an escalation of security measures, the remotely controlled aerial vehicles have been seen flying low above the main Calais Migrant camp and sweeping across nearby beaches.

    Drones can cover much more ground in much less time than other vehicles, and are able to relay a live video camera feed.

    Ingrid Parrot, from the French Naval headquarters for the Channel and North Sea, said: “What we are trying to do with the police is exchange information and stop the migrants reaching the sea.

    “Our aim is to stop people on the beach reaching the water.

    “In the last three weeks, we have increased the number of ships and helicopters in the area to dissuade the migrants from attempting to go out to sea.

    “The police, I understand have also increased their numbers on the ground to stop people getting into boats.”

    Ms Parrot would not be drawn into giving specific figures because she did not want the smugglers to be alerted to the scale of the operation.

    “There are many people involved,” she added.

    The move has come after a recent spike in attempted crossings of the English Channel by predominantly Iranian migrants.

    On Tuesday, two men were picked up in St Margret’s bay, Kent at 3pm, having crossed the world’s busiest shipping lane in nothing more than a small dinghy in broad daylight.

    They presented themselves as Iranian, and were taken into custody by border force agents.

    On Wednesday, four men who said they were Iranian were picked up by the side of the road in Lincolnshire, having seemingly overshot the Kent coastline.

    Lincolnshire Police said: “The four men aged 30, 29, and two aged 31, were arrested by officers in the Roman Bank area of Mablethorpe at around 7.30pm on December 4. “It was reported these men had arrived by boat.”

    In France, there was activity too.

    Eight men in a pleasure craft were caught by police while trying to set sail across the channel from a beach just north of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

    A police spokesperson said that four of the migrants were Iranian and four were Iraqi. None were injured or taken to hospital, and all were taken into custody.

    In the strangest incident of the evening, a man radioed for help while struggling in a seven-metre pleasure cruiser in shallow waters near Equihen-Plage, just south of Boulogne-sur-Mer.

    He abandoned ship when it became clear that no boat was able to tug him away.

    It emerged that the craft had been bought the day before by a man who claimed to be British, and suspicions have been raised that he may have been trying to smuggle migrants across the channel.

    One coastguard insider said: “You don’t buy a boat like that at this time of year and take it out on the water at night. I think it’s quite clear what he was trying to do, and that was go round the corner and try and pick up a group of migrants.”

    The Telegraph visited the beach on Wednesday evening and saw the boat beached on the sand at low tide, with its propeller jammed into the sand and a life jacket left in the cabin.

    The man who abandoned ship had apparently not been back.

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/12/05/calais-police-using-drones-track-migrants-cross-channel
    #frontières #militarisation_des_frontières #fermeture_des_frontières #asile #migrations #réfugiés #UK #France #Angleterre #mer #contrôles_frontaliers

    • #Coquelles : encore de nouveaux barbelés sur l’#A16 au-dessus du site de #Eurotunnel

      Depuis mardi, des ouvriers installent des barbelés « concertina » sur le pont de l’A16 qui surplombe les rails menant au Tunnel à Coquelles. C’est la raison pour laquelle une voie est neutralisée sur plusieurs centaines de mètres dans le sens Boulogne-sur-Mer – Calais.

      Des centaines d’usagers de l’autoroute A16 ont dû les apercevoir. Ce mercredi après-midi, sous la pluie, ils étaient encore à pied d’œuvre. Depuis mardi, des ouvriers installent des barbelés, dits « concertina », sur le pont de l’A16 qui surplombe les rails menant au Tunnel. Résultat, dans le sens Boulogne-sur-Mer – Calais, la voie de droite est neutralisée sur plusieurs centaines de mètres.

      Cette nouvelle installation est un moyen d’empêcher les migrants d’accéder aux voies ferrées, situées plusieurs mètres plus bas, et de rejoindre au péril de leur vie l’Angleterre. Elle fait suite à l’implantation de barbelés sur un autre pont, à quelques centaines de mètres de là, à hauteur de la tranchée de la Beussingues, à Peuplingues, en juillet.

      Cet été, la communication d’Eurotunnel avait parlé « d’une sécurisation accrue à la demande de la préfecture du Pas-de-Calais suite à une intrusion ». Des travaux sur l’A16 « dans un deuxième temps » avaient été annoncés. Nous y sommes. Les ouvriers devraient terminer cette partie du pont ce jeudi, selon la Direction interdépartementale des routes. Ils s’occuperont de l’autre côté du pont du 7 au 10 octobre. Là encore des perturbations de circulation sont à envisager. Pour rappel, en décembre, un migrant avait frôlé la mort. Il s’était jeté du pont avant d’atterrir sur une navette en marche et être électrocuté à plusieurs reprises.

      https://www.lavoixdunord.fr/642863/article/2019-09-26/coquelles-encore-de-nouveaux-barbeles-sur-l-a16-au-dessus-du-site-de-eu
      #militarisation_des_frontières #barbelé #fil_barbelé #barrières_frontalières

  • AIS Animation Shows Bizarre U-Turn Collision in North Sea – gCaptain
    https://gcaptain.com/ais-animation-shows-bizarre-u-turn-collision-in-north-sea

    Two cargo ships collided in the North Sea off the northwestern coast of Germany on Thursday, resulting in damage to both ships but so far no pollution.

    Germany’s Central Command for Maritime Emergencies has taken up the response. The agency reports that the Turkish-flagged general cargo ship PAKSOY 1 collided with the Dutch-flagged cargo ship EEMS COBALT at approximately 9:30 p.m. local time around 25 km northwest of Borkum, Germany on Thursday. 

    The cause of the collision is still under investigation, but an AIS animation of the ships’ track shows the PAKSOY 1 made an sudden U-turn directly into the side of the EEMS COBALT after the two ships had already passed. Check it out:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW9hRKux2-M

    Initially the ships were stuck together with the bow of the PAKSOY 1 embedded in the hull of the smaller EEMS COBALT. They were eventually separated Friday morning and both vessels moved under their own power to port (EEMS COBALT sailed for Eemshaven while PAKSOY 1 headed to Westerems where it now at anchor). The EEMS COBALT has suffered a hold in its hull above the waterline and PAKSOY 1 has damage to its bow.

    According to AIS, the PAKSOY 1 sailing from The Netherlands to St. Petersburg, Russia, which raises even more questions about why it made the sudden U-turn.

    No injuries or pollution has been reported.

  • Norwegian frigate collides with oil tanker off country’s coast, 8 injured (VIDEO) — RT World News
    https://www.rt.com/news/443399-tanker-frigate-incident-norway


    The Norwegian Navy frigate “KNM Helge Ingstad” after a collision with a tanker.
    ©NTB Scanpix- Marit Hommedal via REUTERS

    A Norwegian Navy frigate returning from a NATO exercise collided with an oil tanker off Norway’s coast. Eight people received light injuries in the incident while the warship started slowly sinking.
    The early morning collision, which involved the frigate KNM Helge Ingstad and the tanker Sola TS, happened off Norway’s western coast near an island chain on which the municipality of Øygarden is located.

    Unlike the warship, the tanker, which carries around 625,000 barrels of crude, was mostly undamaged in the incident and no signs of an oil spill were reported. The ship was still ordered to return to port for inspection.

    The frigate, which reportedly received a long tear in the hull’s starboard side, started to take on water and listed dangerously. A tank of helicopter fuel was damaged and leaked some of its content, local media say. The crew of 137 was ordered to abandon ship, which was moved closer to land to prevent it from capsizing.

    The incident also triggered the shut-down of several oil industry sites in the vicinity, including a North Sea crude export terminal, Norway’s largest gas processing plant and several offshore fields.

    • Pas d’infos précises,…

      Cette après-midi, la BBC sort des fuites sur les communications entre les deux navires avant la collision qui ont été enregistrées. Pas glorieux, semble-t-il pour la marine norvégienne. En tous cas, les dégâts sont impressionnants et l’échouage volontaire a très certainement évité un chavirage rapide que l’on voit se profiler sur la première vidéo, alors que le navire est déjà à la côte.

      Norway warship Helge Ingstad ’warned’ before collision - BBC News
      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46150048


      Chris Cavas — @CavasShips — 8 nov.
      Images of the damage caused to Norwegian frigate HELGE INGSTAD F313 from collision with tanker SOLA TS. Views are obviously before the ship partially sank. The below-water damage to the ship was more extensive than the photos can show.

      The tanker, which was heading northbound, contacted the frigate, heading southbound, to ask if they had a plan to safely pass them as they seemed to be on a collision course,” Kjetil Stormark, the editor of AldriMer.no told the BBC.
      Citing what he called key sources, he said: “The response was:We have everything under control.’”
      Lucky vessels
      The incident is undergoing investigation, both by the police and by the Accident Investigation Board Norway, officials told the BBC.
      Mr Stomark says that because the tanker was “slow, heavy and much larger”, it was the warship’s responsibility to move around it.

    • Version française, sans les informations sur les échanges radio.

      Frégate norvégienne : le point sur l’accident | Mer et Marine
      https://www.meretmarine.com/fr/content/fregate-norvegienne-le-point-sur-laccident


      Capture d’écran d’un direct de la télévision publique norvégienne
      © NRK

      C’est un accident spectaculaire qui risque bien de sceller le sort de la frégate norvégienne Helge Ingstad. À 3 heures 55 du matin, le pétrolier Sola TS a quitté le terminal pétrolier de Sture, près de Bergen, en direction du nord. Il était alors suivi du remorqueur Tenax. Huit minutes plus tard, le tanker entrait en collision avec le bâtiment de combat norvégien qui faisait route inverse. À 4 heures 50, la Marine norvégienne commençait l’évacuation des 137 membres d’équipage se trouvant à bord de la frégate, devenue incontrôlable.
       
      Heureusement, il n’y pas de victimes à déplorer pour les deux navires. Seuls huit marins de l’Helge Ingstad ont été légèrement blessés et c’est un miracle à la vue des images diffusées par les autorités. L’abordage a eu lieu sur tribord. Le pétrolier, probablement lourdement chargé de pétrole, a vu son écubier littéralement déchirer la coque de la frégate sur la moitié de sa longueur au niveau de la ligne de flottaison. Une importante voie d’eau n’a pas pu être maîtrisée. Sur les photos de la télévision publique norvégienne NRK1, on peut observer que le tanker a été très faiblement endommagé au niveau du bordé et de l’écubier tribord. Ce dernier est très proéminent sur ce bateau et est probablement renforcé pour soutenir son ancre et sa chaîne.

    • ça se confirme ; le centre de contrôle du trafic maritime avait également prévenu…

      Wrecked Norwegian Frigate Was Warned Prior to Collision
      https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/wrecked-norwegian-frigate-was-warned-prior-to-collision

      Prior to her collision with the Suezmax tanker Sola TS on Thursday, the Norwegian frigate KNM Helge Ingstad was repeatedly called over VHF, both by the approaching vessel and by the nearby Fedje VTS center, according to a new report. However, the bridge team on the frigate allegedly responded that they had the situation under control. The Ingstad and the Sola TS collided shortly thereafter. 

      Norwegian defense outlet Aldrimer first reported the radio exchange in an update Friday, citing “five sources” with independent knowledge of the accident.

      According to the report, the Sola TS spotted the Helge Ingstad visually shortly after departing the Sture petroleum terminal outside Bergen. The Ingstad was inbound, heading for the Haakonsvern Naval Base at Mathopen. The Sola’s bridge team called the Ingstad to determine her intentions. The Fedje VTS center also noted the situation and called the Ingstad repeatedly to warn that she was on a collision course. 

      Shortly after 0400 on Thursday, the two vessels collided. The impact tore a large hole in the Ingstad’s starboard side, spilling fuel, injuring eight crewmembers and rendering her unable to maneuver. Aldrimer’s sources reported that the Ingstad’s crew turned on her AIS transponder after the collision so that she could be easily located by rescuers, thereby corroborating the sudden appearance of her AIS signal on commercial tracking services shortly after the collision. 

      On Friday, Fedje Maritime Transport Center confirmed that it had played a role in a VHF exchange with the Ingstad. The Norwegian military declined requests for comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

    • Communiqué officiel de l’OTAN, le 8/11/18

      Allied Maritime Command - SNMG1 ship accident at sea
      https://mc.nato.int/media-centre/news/2018/snmg1-ship-accident-at-sea.aspx

      NORTHWOOD, United Kingdom (November 08, 2018) HNoMS Helge Ingstad was involved in a collision with the Maltese oil tanker Sola TS in Norwegian waters around 0400 this morning (8 Nov) while sailing inner Fjords for navigation training.

      Due to the damage to the frigate it was moved to a safe place and the crew was evacuated in a professional manner. There are no reports of damages or leaks from the oil tanker and no report of serious injuries, though eight crewmembers are being treated for minor injuries.

      The Norwegian Armed Forces are working with the Norwegian Coastal Authority to address the situation. The Norwegian frigate HNoMS Helge Ingstad is part of the Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1). The group was sailing in and around the Fjords, following their participation in exercise Trident Juncture 2018 which concluded on November 7th.
       
      The rest of SNMG1’s ships are positioned nearby at sea in the event that further assistance is required. The Norwegian Armed Forces Press Office has lead for further information, contact at +47 40 43 80 83, info@njhq.no.

    • Plan de situation, histoire de ne pas perdre la main ;-)
      https://drive.google.com/open?id=1t_JjDMYnt3uLCIBt3wotJxemMltL87uI

      On remarquera que le lieu de l’échouage est à un jet de caillou du terminal d’Equinor (ex-Statoil)

      source de la localisation de l’échouage :
      We Have Located The Precise Spot Where Norway’s Half Sunken Frigate Lies (Updated) - The Drive
      http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/24795/we-have-located-the-precise-spot-where-norways-half-sunken-frigate-lies

    • Ça n’a pas trainé ! VesselTracker (l’autre site, celui que je n’utilise quasiment pas,…) a sorti l’animation basée sur les enregistrements AIS. La collision a lieu, sans doute, vers 0:18-0:19, le Helge Ingstad active son transpondeur AIS juste après. Le Vestbris manœuvre en catastrophe pour éviter le Solas TS

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izbXbQ1Shmk

      EDIT : pour mémoire, les sources indiquent un délai de 8 minutes de temps réel entre l’appareillage du Solas et l’abordage.

    • À l’instant, l’intégralité des échanges en VHF entre Fedje, Sola et Helge Ingstad avec visualisation des positions de tous les bâtiments (y compris après la collision). En norvégien,…

      Le locuteur en norvégien du Sola TS, navire de l’armement grec Tsakos, sous pavillon maltais et dont l’équipage est certainement cosmopolite a de grandes chances d’être le pilote, basé justement au centre de contrôle du trafic de Fedje qui assure (de tous temps, dit WP) le service de pilotes pour le fjord de Bergen.

      VGTV - Hør samtalen mellom skipene

      https://www.vgtv.no/video/167055/hoer-samtalen-mellom-skipene

    • Les fuites quant aux échanges radio étaient fausses :
      – dès la prise de contact (laborieuse…) le pétrolier demande une manœuvre,
      – ce que la frégate annonce accepter, apparemment, sans qu’il se passe grand chose,
      – presque tout de suite après, le Solas TS réclame, fermement !, tourne ! sinon, c’est la collision.
      – le Helge Ingstad n’a jamais indiqué contrôler la situation. En fait, il ne dit rien… Après la collision, il dit qu’il essaye de contrôler la situation.

      Hør samtalen mellom skipene

      Fedje VTS, det er Sola TS,

      Sola TS, hør

      Ja, jeg hørte ikke navnet. Vet du hvilken båt som kommer mot oss her ?
      jeg har den litt på babord

      (10 secondes)

      Nei, det er en en… Jeg har ikke fått noen opplysninger on den.
      Den har ikke rapportert til meg.
      Jeg ser bare den dukker opp på skjermen her.
      Ingen opplysninger om den, nei, nei.
      Nei, okey.
      Nei (?)

      (43 secondes)

      Sola til VTS ?

      Ja

      Det er mulig det er « Helge Ingstad »
      Han kom inn nordfra en stund tilbake. Det er mulig det er han som kommer her.

      Helge Ingstad, hører du Sola TS ?

      Helge Ingstad

      Er det du som kommer her nå ?

      Ja det stemmer.
      Ta styrbord med en gang.
      Da går vi for nærme blokkene.

      Svinge styrbord, hvis det er du som kommer.
      Altså, du har…

      (7 secondes)

      Jeg har et par grader styrbord nå vi har passert eh…
      Passert eh…
      (?) styrbord

      Helge Hingstad, du må gjøre noe. Du begynner å nærme deg veldig.
      Helge Hingstad, drei !
      Det blir en kollisjon her da.
      (15 secondes)
      Det kan være en krigskip. Jeg traff den.

      Det er mottatt.

      (16 secondes)

      Det er tauebåten. Over.

      Ja, tauebåten er her, ja.

      Jeg tror vi bare må kalle ut de…
      De andre tauebåtene.
      Får se på skadene her.

      Heldigvis er det et sett med de da. Vi må jo se…

      (?)

      (25 secondes)

      Fedje VTS til Sola TS ?

      Sola TS hører.

      Har du kontakt med vår DD krigskip ?
      Ingen kontakt ?

      Hei, dette er Helge Ingstad.

      Hei, Helge Ingstad. Dette er VTS.
      Hører du meg ?

      Ja, så godt jeg klarer.
      (on entend l’alarme en fond…)
      Vi ligger da… like ved… nord for…
      Nord for Vetlefjorden.
      Har slått alarm. Prøver å få kontroll på situasjonen.

      Ja, er det du som har vært i kollisjonen der ved Sture ?

      Ja, det er korrekt.

      OK.
      Hvor mange personer har du ombord ?

      Vi har 134 personer ombord.

      OK.
      Gi meg status om situasjonen så snart som mulig, da.

      Ja, jeg skal gjøre det.

      Etter kollisjonen går Helge Ingstad inn mot land i rund 5 knop.

      Fedje VTS til Sola TS ?

      Sola TS svarer.

      Hvor mange personer har du ombord totalt ?

      (10 secondes)

      23

      Hvor mange passasjerer ?

      23

      23, ok, 2, 3

      Få en status av deg når du vet litt mer.

      Kan du gjenta ?

      Vi må få høre hvordan det går med deg etter hvert som du får litt mer oversikt.

      Det er ikke noe spesielt her.
      Vi går fram og sjekker på bauen, da. Så stoppet vi her.
      Forelopig så ser det bra ut, men vi må frem og se, vi vet jo ikke skadene der fremme.

      Ja, ok.

      Helge Ingstad til VTS ?
      (30 secondes)
      Helge Ingstad til VTS ?

      Ferje TS, KNM Helge Ingstad.

      Helge Ingstad til VTS ?

      Vi har en situasjon.
      Vi har gått på et ukjent objekt.
      Vi har ikke fremdrift.

      Helge Ingstad har ikke fremdrift ?

      De har vært i en kollisjon med Sola TS, forstår jeg.
      De driver inn mot land uten fremdrift.
      Har du gått på grunn ?

      Det er foreløpig litt løst fra min side, men vi trenger umiddelbar assistanse.

      Trenger umiddelbar assistanse.

      (?) rett fram.

      Vi skal se om vi kan få tak i en tauebåt.

      (?)

      Ajax, Ajax til VTS ?

      Trauebåten Ajax blir sendt fra terminalen med en gang.

      Ajax, Ajax, jeg gjentar.

      Ja Ferdje VTS til Ajax.

      (?) Helge Ingstad. Han ligger like nord for deres.
      Han ligger uten framdrift.

      (?)

      Helge Ingstad til VTS ?

      Helge Ingstad.

      Tauebåten Ajax fikk beskjed. Den er på vei.

      (?)

      Den (?) om mer enn tre minutter.

      Ajax, Ajax, KNM Ingstad K16.

      Ajax til VTS ?

      Helge Ingstad, Ajax.

      Ajax, KNM Helge Ingstad K16. Vi er på vei.

      Vi har ingen framdrift, vi går på noe anker.
      Vi trenger assistanse fra taeubåt.

      note (quelques à peu près de gg:translate) :
      • tauebåt, ce n’est pas « bateau-feu » mais remorqueur (tugboat)
      • framdrift / uten framdrift, ce n’est pas « progrès / sans progrès », mais propulsion / sans propulsion

    • Article de Defense News quelques heures après la diffusion des échanges. La présentation de ceux-ci souffrent toujours des à peu près des commentaires initiaux.

      Warnings and confusion preceded Norwegian frigate disaster : here’s what we know
      https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/11/11/warnings-and-confusion-preceded-norwegian-frigate-disaster-heres-what-w

      The Royal Norwegian Navy was dealt a devastating blow in the early morning hours of November 10 when one of its five capital Nansen-class frigates collided with a fully loaded oil tanker more than 10 times its size while returning NATO’s Trident Juncture exercise.

      The frigate Helge Ingstad lost steering and drifted at five knots onto the rocky shore near Norwegian port of Sture, north of Bergen, saving the ship from sinking in the Fjord, according to media reports. The crew of 137 was forced to abandon ship. Ingstad is now resting on its side on three points while crews move to secure it.

      The disaster has far-reaching consequences for the Norwegian Navy, which is facing the loss of one of its premier warfighting assets,

      This is a huge blow to the Norwegian navy,” said Sebastian Bruns, who heads the Center for Maritime Strategy and Security at the University of Kiel in northern Germany. The loss of the $400 million ship, which appeared likely, leaves the Norwegian Navy with a 20 percent cut to its most advanced class of ship, Burns said.

      The situation is made all the more painful as evidence mounts that Ingstad was repeatedly warned to alter course before the collision and failed to take corrective action to avoid the collision.

      Local media reported that the Maltese-flagged tanker Sola TS identified Ingstad and tried to avoid the disaster. The reports also revealed details that show that Ingstad did not have a firm grasp of the surface picture it was sailing into.

      The disaster developed quickly, with Ingstad transiting the channel inbound at 17 knots and Sola TS traveling outbound at 7 knots.

      Sola TS raised the Ingstad multiple times and was discussing the emerging danger with shore-based Central Station, according to the Norwegian paper Verdens Gang. The responses from Ingstad appear confused, at one point saying that if they altered the course it would take them too close to the shoals, which prompted Sola TS to respond that they had to do something or a collision would be unavoidable.

      Contributing to the confusion, the Ingstad appears to have been transiting with its Automatic Identification System switched off. That seems to have delayed recognition by central control and the other ships in the area that Ingstad was inbound and heading into danger, the account in VG seems to indicate.

    • Mon interprétation, au vu des échanges – et des dégâts provoqués par la collision (la capture de la visualisation de l’écran radar n’est pas vraiment lisible) : il semblerait que le Helge Ingstad après avoir accepté d’infléchir sa trajectoire vers la droite (à tribord) ait, en fait, viré vers sa gauche, d’où l’impact à tribord, au deux tiers de sa flottaison.

      On voit la déchirure provoquée par l’écubier, il n’est pas possible de savoir si le bulbe du pétrolier a entrainé des dégâts sous la flottaison. Sans doute, non puisque le Solas TS a pu reprendre sa route sans trop de problème et à vitesse normale.

      Sous le choc (17 noeuds entrant vs 7 noeuds sortant, presque 45 km/h de vitesse relative) le Helge Ingstad a pivoté sur sa droite est s’est retrouvé, désemparé, sans propulsion, ni gouvernail, à dériver vers la côte à 5 noeuds ; la manœuvre n’a pas du tout été délibérée, mais entièrement subie.

    • Il y a 3 jours, Le Figaro reprenait les éléments de langage de l’armée norvégienne, rien depuis. Quant au Monde, aucun signe de l’affaire ; la dernière mention de la frégate norvégienne est de janvier 2014, où elle opérait à Chypre dans le cadre du contrôle des livraisons d’armes chimiques en Syrie…

      Norvège : une frégate menace de couler après une collision
      http://www.lefigaro.fr/flash-actu/2018/11/08/97001-20181108FILWWW00059-norvege-7-blesses-legers-dans-une-collision-entre

      « La KNM Helge Ingstad a subi des dégâts au-dessus et en dessous de la ligne de flottaison. Les dégâts étaient tels que la frégate n’était plus stable et n’avait plus assez de capacité de flottaison », a déclaré Sigurd Smith, officier de la Marine norvégienne, lors d’une conférence de presse. « Il a par conséquent été décidé de l’échouer énergiquement sur le rivage », a-t-il expliqué. La Marine a refusé de se prononcer à ce stade sur les causes de la collision.

    • en Norvège, tout finit par des chansons,
      sur NRK, (vidéo sur FB, uniquement)
      https://www.facebook.com/NRK/videos/582039188932786

      Vi hadde en gang en båt,
      en feiende flott fregatt
      men plutsellig så gikk det galt en november-nat.

      å grøss og gru
      å grøss og gru
      Hva skjedde nu ?
      Jeg bare undres :
      Hva skjedde nu ?

      Fregatten Helge Ingstad så stolt og kry.
      Hal toppseil my boys, hit hoy,
      Kosta to milliarder da den var ny
      Hal toppseil my boys, hit hoy.

      Nå var hun på øvelse smekker og grå
      sonarer og radarer passet godt på
      men tankern med olje kom ut av det blå.
      Hal toppseil my boys, hit hoy,

      Hør skipsklokkens, klang
      noe galt er på gang
      men vi holder kursen som vi alt satt
      for dette er den norske marinen fregatt !
      Hal toppseil my boys, hit hoy,

    • Une version officieuse qui circule en défense de la marine norvégienne : le Sola TS n’était pas sur le rail du trafic sortant, il est plus à l’ouest. À quoi, il est répondu :
      • il venait d’appareiller, sa vitesse n’était que de 5 noeuds, alors que le flux sortant était à 10 noeuds,
      • pour appareiller, vu la situation, il a besoin de l’autorisation du centre de contrôle du trafic (Fedje VTS)

      … qui lui a, sans doute, été accordée (ce n’est pas dit). Et c’est là, que l’absence d’information AIS prend toute son importance. L’écho radar était visible, mais pas l’identification, ni la vitesse (17 noeuds, ce qui n’est pas rien dans un détroit (un fjord, en fait,…) Le centre de contrôle ne devait certainement pas suivre manuellement (à l’ancienne !…) l’écho radar, se reposant sur les informations visualisées.

      Sjøoffiser mener at tankskipet « Sola TS » hadde feil kurs før ulykken – NRK Norge – Oversikt over nyheter fra ulike deler av landet
      https://www.nrk.no/norge/sjooffiser-mener-at-tankskipet-_sola-ts_-hadde-feil-kurs-for-ulykken-1.14290245

      Hvorfor « Sola TS » ikke legger seg på samme linje som den andre trafikken, er ikke klart. Det er noe som besetningen om bord og losen sannsynligvis kan forklare.
      […]
      Den andre trafikken var skip som hadde større hastighet enn « Sola TS ». Ut fra AIS-data så er det klart at disse måtte vike dersom tankskipet hadde fortsatt mer mot øst før det tok svingen mot nord.

      […]

      – Tankskip som skal forlate en terminal kaller opp trafikksentralen med informasjon om at de er klar for avgang, og angir seilingsrute. Deretter blir det gitt seilingsklarering dersom det ikke er noe hinder for dette, skriver regiondirektør John Erik Hagen i Kystverket i en generell kommentar til NRK.

    • DN : Berging av fregatten « Helge Ingstad » kan koste opptil 300.000 kroner per dag - Forsvaret - Næringsliv - E24
      http://e24.no/naeringsliv/forsvaret/dn-berging-av-fregatten-helge-ingstad-kan-koste-opptil-300-000-kroner-per-dag/24490783

      Trondheim-selskapet Boa Management har fått oppdraget å løfte havarerte KNM «Helge Ingstad» på lekter og frakte båten til verft. Det melder Dagens Næringsliv.

      Skipsmeglere avisen har kontaktet anslår med noen forbehold at det kan koste 30.000-35.000 dollar per dag å leie inn taubåt og lekter som trengs for jobben. Altså mellom 250.000 og 300.000 kroner.

    • Le texte d’Aldrimer.no repris ci-dessus par la NRK.
      KNM Helge Ingstad fryktet å gå på grunn ‹ aldrimer.no
      https://www.aldrimer.no/knm-helge-ingstad-fryktet-a-ga-pa-grunn

      Il contient une vidéo d’animation des trajectoires AIS plus claire, avec un champ plus large.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6I1twpZVIY

      elle permet de suivre, p. ex. la trajectoire de l’Ajax qui a aidé à l’appareillage du Sola TS et qui repart immédiatement, comme on l’entend dans la transcription VHF, à la demande de Fedje VTS, dès l’abordage. Son trajet permet, en creux de suivre celui du KNM Helge Ingstad, sur laquelle viennent s’agglutiner les remorqueurs. Malgré la localisation AIS, du navire de guerre de l’OTAN, F313 qui apparaît brusquement (à 0’09"), après la collision, derrière le Sola pour ne plus bouger ensuite, la MàJ de la position ne se faisant plus.

    • RIP KNM Helge Ingstad !


      A shipwrecked Norwegian navy frigate “KNM Helge Ingstad” is seen in this Norwegian Coastal Administration handout picture in Oygarden, Norway, November 13, 2018.
      Jakob Ostheim/Norwegian Coastal Administration/Handout vis REUTERS

      Norwegian frigate now nearly submerged after collision
      https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-accident/norwegian-frigate-now-nearly-submerged-after-collision-idUSKCN1NI10Z


      A shipwrecked Norwegian navy frigate “KNM Helge Ingstad” is seen in this Norwegian Coastal Administration handout picture in Oygarden, Norway, November 13, 2018.
      Jakob Ostheim/Norwegian Coastal Administration/Handout vis REUTERS

      A Norwegian navy frigate that collided with an oil tanker last week was almost completely submerged on Tuesday despite efforts to salvage the sinking vessel, pictures taken by the Norwegian Coastal Administration showed.

      The ship’s plight off the Norwegian coast is, however, not disrupting the nearby Sture crude oil export terminal. “We are in normal operations,” said a spokeswoman for the plant’s operator, Equinor.

      The Norwegian military has been working since Thursday to salvage the ship by tethering it with several cables to the shore. Some of these had broken.

      The ship sunk a meter further and, as a result, two wires broke. They were replaced with two stronger ones. We worked until midnight on this. After midnight, we realized it was not safe for our staff to carry on the work further,” said Haavard Mathiesen, the head of the salvage operation for the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency.

      Around 0600 (0500 GMT), more wires broke and the ship sank further. It is now in deep water and stable,” he told a news conference.

      The ship was stranded off Norway’s west coast early last Thursday after it collided with the tanker that had left the Sture terminal. The facility was shut for several hours as a result.

      Eight Navy staff, out of a total crew of 137, were slightly injured in the incident.

    • L’édito de gCaptain.
      Pas de piste, pas d’hypothèse, un appel à la vigilance.

      Who Sunk The Battleship ? – gCaptain
      https://gcaptain.com/who-sunk-the-battleship

      Again. There was a collision at sea again.
      […]
      Take the time to read up on this seemingly textbook collision. Think about the other maritime incidents that have happened recently. Don’t think that these accidents only happen to other people – it only takes one misstep between a near miss and a catastrophe.

      Take away what you’ve observed from this – discuss it with your colleagues. Find ways to ever be improving. Awareness, procedures, re-design from lessons learned.

      Fair winds and following seas – if not that a strong hull and a cautious mariner.

      Note : la première partie de la dernière phrase est traditionnelle, la suite moins.
      https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/NHC/fairwinds.htm

    • L’amiral commandant les forces navales états-uniennes en Europe était à bord de la frégate. C’est lui qui était le responsable de l’exercice OTAN Trident Juncture

      Amerikansk offiser om bord da « Helge Ingstad » kolliderte - Bergens Tidende
      https://www.bt.no/article/bt-VRJjWV.html

      TOPPADMIRAL: Sjefen for de amerikanske marinestyrkene i Europa, admiral James G. Foggo III, var om bord på KNM «Helge Ingstad» fire dager før ulykken. Etter ulykken har Havarikommisjonen sendt en henvendelse til Foggos styrke. De vil ikke si hvorfor.
      FOTO: MARIUS VÅGENES VILLANGER / FORSVARET

      Amerikansk offiser om bord da Helge Ingstad kolliderte
      En amerikansk marineoffiser var om bord på KNM Helge Ingstad da det smalt, bekrefter Forsvarsdepartementet. Offiserens rolle blir nå etterforsket.

      James G. Foggo III - Wikipedia
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Foggo_III

      James “Jamie” Gordon Foggo III (born September 2, 1959) is a United States Navy admiral who currently serves as commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe while concurrently serving as the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Africa and commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
      […]
      25 October to 7 November 2018, admiral Foggo is responsible for conducting the NATO exercise Trident Juncture.

    • De mauvais esprits font remarquer la très faible efficacité (!) des travaux entrepris tout de suite après l’échouage pour empêcher le naufrage de la frégate…

      La glissade au fond a englouti les composants à forte valeur qui étaient initialement récupérables (radar Aegis et système électronique hypersophistiqués, idem pour la propulsion par turbine)
      (on remarquera sur la photo ci-dessous qu’il en va à peu près de même pour le dispositif anti-pollution à en juger par les irisations de chaque côté des barrages flottants…)

      Lokale selskaper bak mislykket « Helge Ingstad »-sikring - VG
      https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/EoryO2/lokale-selskaper-bak-mislykket-helge-ingstad-sikring

      Ifølge Forsvaret ble den beste kompetansen i Norge hentet inn da bergingen av KNM « Helge Ingstad » ble satt i gang. Kritikere sier arbeidet fremstår uprofesjonelt. Nå står milliardfregatten under vann, og er i fare for å gli videre ut på dypet.

      Therese RidarMagnus NewthOda Leraan Skjetne
      Publisert:16.11.18 21:15

      Da KNM « Helge Ingstad » ble grunnstøtt etter kollisjonen forrige uke, ble fregatten sikret med ti stålvaiere festet til land. Sikringsjobben var ferdig lørdag morgen. Slik lå skipet fram til mandag kveld, da vaierne foran på skipet begynte å ryke. Tirsdag morgen hadde alle festepunktene foran på fartøyet røket, og « Helge Ingstad » sank nesten helt under vann.

      Den mislykkede sikringen av fregatten til en verdi av fire milliarder har fått hard kritikk i ettertid.

    • Voici donc mon #Thread concernant l’accident du #HelgeIngstad, cette frégate que la Norvège a perdu sans combattre il y a une semaine..

      François Narolles @FNarolles
      https://twitter.com/FNarolles/status/1063493033969287170

      signalé par @unagi, https://seenthis.net/messages/736408#message736413

      Mon analyse est très voisine, mais j’aurais tendance à augmenter la responsabilité du centre de contrôle du trafic.

      • la frégate va vite, très vite, trop vite : 17 noeuds, c’est pratiquement le double de la vitesse de l’ensemble des bateaux environnants, la vitesse de rapprochement est donc de 44 km/h, soit 11 m/s
      • son AIS est éteint, alors que le navire est en vue des côtes, dans un trafic dense, ça n’a pratiquement que des inconvénients (c’est une des conclusions des analyses des accidents des destroyers de la marine états-unienne l’année dernière). D’un autre côté, on comprend que l’état-major soit réticent à ce que tout le monde (y compris les méchants) puisse connaître en une connexion à MarineTraffic ou VesselFinder la position des navires de sa flotte, du moins ceux qui sont en eaux côtières

      • le centre de contrôle du trafic échoue totalement dans sa mission et commet une très lourde faute. Quand le pétrolier lui demande qui il a en face de lui, le VTS ne le sait pas d’emblée. C’est proprement ahurissant. Il est probable que cela vient du fait que le suivi des navires se fait uniquement sur la base de l’AIS ; position, cap et vitesse sont affichés automatiquement. Il n’y a probablement pas (ou alors pas au même endroit) de suivi manuel du navire sans AIS ; celui-ci mobilise une charge mentale intense, une grande concentration et génère un stress non négligeable (souvenirs précis de service militaire en Iroise,…)
      • d’après ce que j’ai lu, le VTS doit autoriser l’appareillage des navires du port pétrolier. Si c’est exact, alors il a donné un clear pour une situation qui ne l’était pas du tout et était hautement problématique. En demandant de retarder l’appareillage d’une demi-heure, ça laissait le temps à la frégate de défiler et de dégager le terrain

      • je ne vois pas trop ce que le Sola TS aurait pu faire d’autre, il est à 5 noeuds, en phase d’accélération pour atteindre les 10 noeuds qui lui permettront de s’injecter dans le rail sortant, ce qui fait qu’il est décalé vers l’ouest par rapport à ce rail, fermant une partie du passage pour le Helge Ingstad. Ses capacités de manoeuvre sont très limitées, c’est d’ailleurs pour ça qu’il a toujours un remorqueur au cul (le Tenax).
      • sans doute, lui aussi, pouvait (aurait pu…) maintenir une veille radar et suivre les échos, y compris sans AIS, – cf. supra – mais, il est possible que son radar ait été masqué par les structures du port et, donc, que la frégate n’ait pas été perçue au départ du quai (par ailleurs, elle était encore « loin ») et, surtout, c’est normalement le boulot du VTS.

      À mon sens, à partir du moment où le pétrolier a appareillé, la situation est plus que problématique et il aurait fallu un enchaînement exceptionnel pour éviter la catastrophe (perception ultra-rapide de la situation et de sa gravité, manoeuvre sans hésitation de la frégate dès la prise de contact radio).

    • Le rapport préliminaire d’enquête de la commission norvégienne d’enquête. On peut saluer la performance et la transparence : moins d’un mois après l’événement !

      Investigation of marine accident, collision outside the Sture Oil Terminal in Hjeltefjorden, Norway | aibn
      https://www.aibn.no/Marine/Investigations/18-968

      On the morning of Thursday 8 November 2018, the Accident Investigation Board Norway (AIBN) was informed of a collision between the frigate ’KNM Helge Ingstad’ and the Maltese registered tanker ’Sola TS’ in Hjeltefjorden, outside the Sture terminal in Øygarden Municipality in Hordaland County, Norway. The AIBN contacted the Defence Accident Investigation Board Norway (DAIBN) and it was decided to initiate a joint investigation into the accident, led by the AIBN. The AIBN then contacted the Marine Safety Investigation Unit of Malta (MSIU), which is also a participating party in the investigation; cf. Chapter 18 Section 474 of the Norwegian Maritime Code.

      29 November 2018 the AIBN publishes a preliminary report on the accident and two interim safety recommendations. This preliminary report is published to communicate the information obtained during the initial phase of the ongoing investigation. The purpose is to provide a brief update on how the investigation is progressing as well as a preliminary description of the sequence of events and disseminate safety-critical issues identified at this stage of the investigation. This preliminary report also identifies areas that need further investigation and describes lines of investigation that will be followed up.

      En lien, deux pdf
      • Preliminary report 29.11.201
      • Appendix : Interim safety recommendations 29.11.2018

    • De très utiles précisions :
      • le Sola TS avait laissé ses feux de ponts allumés le rendant difficile à distinguer des lumières du terminal pétrolier dont il s’éloignait doucement et ne permettant pas le repérage rapide de ses feux de navigation et donc la lecture de sa trajectoire
      • dans la version de la passerelle du KNM Helge Ingstad où venait de s’effectuer la passation de quart, cette masse lumineuse a été prise pour un obstacle fixe non identifié et c’est cette perception qui justifie l’absence de manoeuvre d’évitement vers la droite, justement pour éviter de percuter cet obstacle fixe

    • À noter surtout dans les recommandations préliminaires la mention d’un grave défaut de conception de ces frégates (et peut-être d’autres issues des chantiers espagnols Navantia.

      En effet, les dégâts provoqués par la collision ont noyé 3 compartiments étanches mettant en péril la stabilité du bâtiment mais lui permettant de se maintenir à flot, conclusion initiale à bord, conforme aux documents décrivant la stabilité du navire, ceux-ci mentionnant que l’envahissement d’un quatrième compartiment entrainait la perte du bâtiment.

      Or, l’eau s’est rapidement infiltré dans un quatrième compartiment en passant par les passages des arbres d’hélice, puis aux autres compartiments à travers les cloisons.

      To start with, flooding occurred in three watertight compartments on board KNM Helge Ingstad: the aft generator room, the orlob deck’s crew quarters and the stores room. There was some uncertainty as to whether the steering engine room, the aftmost compartment, was also filling up with water. Based on this damage, the crew, supported by the vessel’s stability documents, assessed the vessel as having ’poor stability’ status, but that it could be kept afloat. If more compartments were flooded, the status would be assessed as ’vessel lost’ on account of further loss of stability.

      Next, the crew found that water from the aft generator room was running into the gear room via the hollow propeller shafts and that the gear room was filling up fast. From the gear room, the water then ran into and was flooding the aft and fore engine rooms via the stuffing boxes in the bulkheads. This meant that the flooding became substantially more extensive than indicated by the original damage. Based on the flooding of the gear room, it was decided to prepare for evacuation.

      The AIBN considers the vessel’s lack of watertight integrity to be a safety issue relating to Nansen-class frigates and therefore issues the following two safety alerts.

    • Early report blames confused watchstanders, possible design flaws for Norway’s sunken frigate
      https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2018/11/29/early-report-blames-confused-watchstanders-possible-design-flaws-for-no

      In a statement to Defense News, Navantia spokesperson Esther Benito Lope stressed that the report is “very preliminary” and that the company has offered to work with Norway on the investigation.

      Navantia has offered, since the very beginning, its collaboration with the [Royal Norwegian Navy] in order to clarify the accident,” Benito Lope said. “Navantia will analyze all the possibilities, considering that some of the mentioned possibilities … are concluded from a very preliminary investigation.

      The statement went on to say that the company has not received any official notice or fielded any consultations about the cause of the accident.

      Navantia has not received any official communication, neither any consults about possible causes, nor participated in any action … in Norway,” Benito Lope wrote.

    • Navy divers arrive at KNM «Helge Ingstad» - Norway Today
      http://norwaytoday.info/news/navy-divers-arrive-at-knm-helge-ingstad

      The vessel is not lifted anytime soon. The vessel is filled with nearly 10,000 cubic meters of seawater, and a large part of this must be pumped out first, the Project Manager for the Salvage Operation, Commander Captain Arild Øydegard tells VG.

      We have great lifting capacity, but not to lift both a vessel of about 5,000 deadweight tonnes and another 10,000 metric ton of seawater. So this we have to get rid of underway – we have estimated that we might have 500 cubic metres left when we lift it up, he says.
      […]
      There is still no final decision as to whether the Frigate may be repaired. According to VG, two working groups have been established to assess that question; one who will try to salvage the material on board and one who is planning a possible repairing.

      Øydegard announces that the hull is relatively intact, except for the 45-metre tear that the Frigate sustained in the collision with «Sola TS».

      We have damage to the rudder and such, but this is a warship which hull has tolerated the stresses so far, Øydegard explains.

    • Grave problème d’étanchéité d’une frégate norvégienne construite par Navantia
      https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-finance/industrie/aeronautique-defense/grave-probleme-d-etancheite-d-une-fregate-norvegienne-construite-par-navan

      Le Bureau d’enquête sur les accidents de la Norvège a identifié dans un rapport préliminaire des « problèmes de sécurité critiques », qui nécessitent une « attention immédiate ». Notamment des problèmes d’étanchéité entre les compartiments de la frégate KNM Helge Ingstad construite en 2009 par Navantia.

      Coup dur pour Navantia. Après la collision le 8 novembre entre une frégate norvégienne, un bâtiment moderne d’environ 5.000 tonnes construit par le chantier naval espagnol, et le pétrolier maltais Sola TV, le Bureau d’enquête sur les accidents de la Norvège (AIBN) a identifié dans un rapport préliminaire public daté du 29 novembre, des « problèmes de sécurité critiques », qui nécessitent une « attention immédiate ». L’AIBN a affirmé que le manque d’étanchéité entre les compartiments des frégates de la classe Nansen, est l’un de ces problèmes de sécurité. Il a déjà émis deux alertes de sécurité en attendant de poursuivre une enquête plus approfondie.

    • Frégate HNoMS Helge Ingstad : un rapport de la marine espagnole remet en cause la version norvégienne | Le portail des sous-marins
      https://www.corlobe.tk

      #C’était_à_prévoir : les critiques adressées au constructeur Navantia par le rapport préliminaire du bureau norvégien d’enquêtes sur les accidents maritimes ne passent pas en Espagne. La marine espagnole a rédigé son propre rapport qui dédouane complètement Navantia et conclut qu’une erreur humaine a été la cause principale de l’accident de la frégate Helge Ingstad.

      Ce rapport remet en cause la version des autorités norvégiennes : la semaine dernière, le bureau norvégien d’enquêtes sur les accidents maritimes avait pointé du doigt le chantier naval espagnol. Selon le rapport espagnol, « il existe des preuves claires que les dommages initiaux ont touché 4 compartiments étanches, et des indices que 5 aient été réellement endommagés dans la collision, ce qui dépasse les critères de survie fixés pour ce navire. »

      Le rapport interne de la marine espagnole explique que « la longueur de la déchirure visible sur les photos est de 15% de la longueur à la ligne de flottaison (18,2 m), soit 3 tranches contigües inondées. »

      Il ajoute aussi que l’avarie pourrait avoir aussi touché d’autres compartiments. « L’analyse des images indique que, probablement, sous la ligne de flottaison, un 4è compartiment étanche ait été éventré. »

      Pour la marine espagnole, une erreur humaine est la seule cause de l’accident. Une suite d’erreurs ont été commises : navigation à vitesse excessive (environ 17 nœuds), non-utilisation de l’AIS, non-respect du règlement international de prévention des abordages en mer, et non-prise en compte des avertissements du pétrolier.

      Le rapport conclut que « aucun navire ayant des caractéristiques similaires à la frégate n’aurait été capable de contrôler la voie d’eau et d’éviter le naufrage ».

      Remarque : que la cause de l’accident soit une erreur humaine ne fait guère de doute, ce qui est en cause est la suite, l’issue finale de l’accident : le naufrage…

    • Integrity of Nansen-class frigates questioned by Helge Ingstad investigation | Insurance Marine News
      https://insurancemarinenews.com/insurance-marine-news/integrity-of-nansen-class-frigates-questioned-by-helge-ingstad-

      Meanwhile, during the weekend of December 1st and 2nd, the Coastal Administration continued monitoring the Helge Ingstad with daily inspections of the oil spill equipment. Patrol boat Bergen and anti-pollution vessel Utvær were in the area and had collected about 50m3 of oil mixture by December 1st. In total, about 90m3 of diesel mixed with water had been recovered by the Utvær.

  • Russia Is Hunting For Its Crashed Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missile And The U.S. Might Be Too - The Drive
    http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/23058/russia-is-hunting-for-its-crashed-nuclear-powered-cruise-missile-and-the-u


    (je reprends ici l’intégralité de l’article, non accessible en France)

    Russia is reportedly set to launch an operation to recover a prototype of its Burevestnik nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed cruise missile that came down in the Barents Sea in 2017. At the same time, the wreckage presents a prime opportunity for other countries, particularly the United States, to gain major insights into its design and true capabilities.

    CNBC was first to report the Russian expedition, citing unnamed U.S. government sources with knowledge of an American intelligence report on the matter, on Aug. 21, 2018. These individuals said that the Kremlin would dispatch three unspecified ships, including one specially configured to recover the missile’s nuclear reactor, but said there was no set timeline for when the operation would begin or how long it might last. 
    Russia test-fired four Burevestniks in total between November 2017 and February 2018, according to the new information. The longest test flight reportedly lasted over two minutes and saw the weapon travel a total of 22 miles, while the shortest experiment saw the missile fail within seconds, but it still managed to cover a distance of five miles. The missile reportedly uses a nuclear reactor to power its propulsion system, giving it theoretically unlimited range.

    The Russians have otherwise been very tight-lipped about the design, which read more about here. So, it’s not surprising that they would want to recover any wrecks both to prevent foreign intelligence services from getting their hands on it and to gather more information for their test program.

    The official video below offers the best views of the Burevestnik cruise missile available to date.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuwMsJlM-pg

    Though CNBC did not say which Russian ships might be heading out on the recovery mission, it is very possible that the Yantar might be among them. Officially an “oceanographic research vessel,” this spy ship has specialized equipment that can reportedly tap or cut submarine cables and investigate and retrieve objects from depths of up to 18,000 feet.

    In 2017, the vessel reportedly sailed off the coast of Syria to recover the remnants of two fighter jets, a Su-33 and a Mig-29KR, that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea during operations from Russia’s aircraft carrier Kuznetsov. In that case, the goal was also, at least in part, to make sure other countries could not retrieve the wrecks for their own purposes.

    In June 2018, the U.K.’s Royal Navy escorted Yantar through the English Channel as it headed into the North Sea. Pictures showed a Saab SeaEye Tiger deep-sea robot on the ship’s deck. Russia acquired this piece of equipment after the Kursk submarine disaster. The Tiger can reach depths of 3,280 feet and private companies have previously used them to do work at sites with heavy radioactive contamination.


    The Russian spy ship Yantar.

    It’s not clear what state the missile wreckage, or the weapon’s reactor, might be in. We at The War Zone have previously explored in detail what might happen if these weapons came down on land or over water after reports that they were crashing first emerged earlier in 2018. It’s also worth noting that these apparent failures might have been successes depending on the actual test points and would have provided Russia important information for further development of the Burevestnik regardless.

    Of course, if the weapon is at all salvageable, the race may be on for the Russians to get it off the bottom of the Barents Sea before anyone else does. The United States has already reportedly been keeping a close eye on the tests and could have a good idea of where the missiles have landed. 

    If they spread any substantial amount of radioactive material when they came down, it might make them even easier to locate. In February 2017, well before the reported test flights, a U.S. Air Force WC-135 atmospheric reconnaissance aircraft was flying around the Barents Sea on what the service has insisted was a routine mission. This coincided with reports of increased radioactivity in the region, but that might have been linked to leaking Russian nuclear waste facilities.

    That U.S. Navy has its own deep sea intelligence gathering and salvage capabilities, notably the super-secret Seawolf-class submarine the USS Jimmy Carter. In September 2017, again before Russia reportedly began firing Burevestniks, that boat returned to its homeport at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington State flying a Jolly Roger flag, a symbol representing the completion of a particularly successful mission.


    USN
    The secretive USS Jimmy Carter flying a Jolly Roger flag as it returns to port in September 2017.

    The U.S. government has a long history of trying to steal sensitive Russian equipment from the bottom of the ocean, as well. In the 1970s, the Central Intelligence Agency famously used the Hughes Glomar Explorer to pull a portion of the Soviet Golf II-class ballistic missile submarine K-129 up from the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

    Getting ahold of or even examining pieces of a #Burevestnik, one of six super weapons Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted in a speech in March 2018, would be a major coup for American intelligence agencies and the U.S. government’s foreign partners. NATO as a whole is also becoming more concerned with Russia’s aggressive policies and various advanced weapons developments, amid threatening training exercises, electronic warfare attacks, and deceptive information operations.

    All told, it might be worth keeping an eye on Yantar’s movements to see if she heads out into the waters above the Arctic Circle any time soon.

    Update: 5:20pm EST
    Canadian analyst Steffan Watkins has found that Russia’s Akademik Primakov, a seismic research vessel has been recently sailing a very deliberate pattern in the Kara Sea, which is to the east of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. To the west of Novaya Zemlya is the Barents Sea and the area was home to Soviet nuclear weapon testing.


    @steffanwatkins
    Russian seismic research vessel Akademik Primakov (MMSI:273392760) is certainly looking for something in the Kara Sea at 5kn. (Before you get too excited, it could be mapping the Arctic shelf, to aid in Russian claims to it.)

    It is possible that the initial report of where the missile went down was inaccurate and that it instead crashed into the Kara Sea. However, as Watkins notes, the Akademik Primakov is more likely mapping the region. The Russian company JSC Sevmorneftegeofizika acquired the ship in June 2017 specifically to conduct geological exploration activities in the Arctic Shelf.

  • Outrage: Ugly Belgian Houses

    21 AUGUST, 2018 BY HANNES COUDENYS

    Ugly or boring? Belgium’s lack of planning constraints fuels a culture of the grotesque and the banal

    Who was ugly first?

    As a Belgian, let me describe how it feels to get there from its many neighbours. Coming from the North Sea, you might imagine Belgium has wonderful white cliffs like Dover. In reality, you are confronted with a kind of horrendous contemporary version of the Atlantic Wall. From Knokke in the north to De Panne in the south, a trail of concrete desolation extends along the entire coastal strip.

    Coming from the broad rolling plains of France, you just drive straight in. Without border posts, you could easily miss the sign saying ‘Belgium’. You only realise that you’re there when a curiously oppressive feeling takes hold. Where has all the picturesque French landscape gone?

    https://www.architectural-review.com/10034410.article

    ‘We are realistic Surrealists. Ceci n’est pas une maison. C’est ma maison’

    Coming from the Netherlands, your mood might lift when you get to Belgium because you can do what you like, architecturally. This is not the case in the Netherlands, where a building inspector decides how your house will look. I detest these inspectors, because Belgium is now swamped by Dutch people flitting over the border to build their dream home, unfettered by constraints. It might be an ersatz Spanish hacienda or an ersatz Belgian farmhouse. Generally, the ersatz hacienda predominates, a cruel irony in our gloomy, rain-lashed country.

    #belgique #architecture #non_architecture

  • Hundreds of Norway oil workers go on strike, Shell shuts Knarr field | Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-oil-wages/wage-talks-with-norway-oil-drilling-workers-go-into-overtime-strike-threat-

    Hundreds of workers on Norwegian offshore oil and gas rigs went on strike on Tuesday after rejecting a proposed wage deal, leading to the shutdown of one Shell-operated field and helping send Brent crude prices higher.

    One union said hundreds more workers would join the strike on Sunday if an agreement over union demands for a wage increase and pension rights was not reached.

    Royal Dutch Shell said that due to the strike it was temporarily closing production at its Knarr field, which has a daily output of 23,900 barrels of mostly oil, but also natural gas liquids and natural gas.

    Shutting the field, whose owners are Idemitsu, Wintershall and DEA, could take up to 36 hours, it said.

    Norway is Western Europe’s biggest oil producer. The disruption added to a rise in global oil supply outages and helped push Brent crude up 1.2 percent to $79.03 per barrel.

  • European Commission: EU Action on Ship Emissions Helping to Reduce Air Pollution in Ports and Along Coastlines – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/european-commission-eu-action-on-ship-emissions-helping-to-reduce-air-poll

    Air pollution from shipping has been significantly reduced around European coastlines and ports thanks to the concerted action by the European Union and industry to reduce sulphur emissions from ships, the European Commission said in a report released Monday.

    The report is the first European Commission report on compliance with Directive (EU) 2016/802, more commonly referred to as the Sulphur Directive, which regulates SOx emissions from ships in European waters.

    Since 1 January 2015, the Directive has required all ships operating in designated Sulphur Limit Control Areas (SECAs), such as the North and Baltic Seas, to burn marine fuel with a sulphur content no greater than 0.1%. For ships operating outside of SECAs, the Directive lowers the maximum sulphur content for ships from 3.50% to 0.50% by 1 January 2020.

    The European Report report released Monday shows high compliance by ships, particularly in the North and Baltic Seas SECAs where 93% of ships inspected complied with the Directive. This compliance has lead to a significant reduction in harmful sulphur dioxide concentrations in regions bordering the SECAs, including up to a 60% reduction in Denmark, 50% reduction in the German North Sea, and over 20% in the Rotterdam area, according to the report.

  • The last whalers: commuting from the North Sea to Antarctica | Aeon Essays
    https://aeon.co/essays/the-last-whalers-commuting-from-the-north-sea-to-antarctica

    In the mid-20th century, young men from #Shetland would come of age and travel to Edinburgh. ‘Quite a lot of Shetland boys did that,’ says Gibbie Fraser, who was that boy some 60 years ago. ‘And I remember goin’ and dere was a lot of men dere and dey all seemed huge and in dose days dey all wore … dere dress clothes as almost a uniform.’ For many, this would have been their first trip to the mainland, their first trip to ‘Scotland’ proper at all, and the boys would watch the double-decker buses for the first time, or board a black cab for the neighbourhood of Leith. There, they would stand in lines that snaked around city blocks.Shetlanders are some of the only living people who participated in Antarctic whaling. #Whaling in the Southern Ocean followed the devastation of whale stocks in the North Sea around #Britain, #Iceland and #Norway in the late-19th and early 20th centuries. Whaling has been a foundation of Shetland’s economy for more than 300 years. It began with subsistence whaling, in the 18th and 19th centuries, and then developed into large-scale #Arctic and #Greenland hunts in the mid-19th century. Salvesen began whaling in Shetland at Olna in 1904, when the company established a whaling station. ‘That’s where [they], I suppose in a way, came to appreciate the Shetland men,’ said Fraser.

    #baleines

  • Deepwater discoveries signal life in offshore sector - Houston Chronicle
    http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/Deepwater-discoveries-signal-life-in-offshore-12541700.php

    Some of the world’s biggest oil companies announced this week that they’ve made major deepwater discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea, signaling that the moribund offshore energy sector is coming back to life as rising oil prices and lower development costs hold the promise of new profits.

    Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and the French company Total revealed their discoveries within a 24-hour period Tuesday and Wednesday, shifting attention from the Permian Basin in West Texas, which has become the center of the industry’s rebound from the last oil bust. This new activity offshore could provide a much needed boost to the explorers, drillers and equipment makers that employ tens of thousands of people in the Houston area.
    […]
    Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil major, said Wednesday that it struck a potentially major oil payload while drilling to 23,000 feet in the Gulf of Mexico about 200 miles south of Houston. Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company, owns a 40 percent stake in the well, dubbed the “Whale.”

    The discovery is near an area where Shell already has developed wells, about 10 miles from its massive Perdido platform, which is moored at 8,000 feet underwater.

  • Shell Gives North Sea Shot in Arm With Field Redevelopment - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-15/shell-gives-north-sea-operations-shot-in-arm-at-penguins-field

    Royal Dutch Shell Plc made one of its biggest commitments to the North Sea in 30 years, with plans to redevelop the Penguins oil and gas field.

    The Anglo-Dutch oil major will build a floating production, storage and offloading vessel — its first new manned installation in almost three decades — to take output from eight wells it plans to drill. Peak production will be the equivalent of 45,000 barrels a day, with a break-even price of less than $40 a barrel, Shell said on Monday.

    It is another example of how we are unlocking development opportunities, with lower costs, in support of Shell’s transformation into a world class investment case,” Andy Brown, Shell’s upstream director, said in a statement.

    Penguins, a joint venture between Shell and Exxon Mobil Corp., is already operational after first being developed in 2002. Oil from the field — about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of the Shetland Islands — will be transported by tanker to refineries, while the gas will be sent by a pipeline to the St. Fergus terminal in Scotland.

    #Penguins_Oil_Field


    Shell initiated a the Brent decommissioning project in 2006 due to depleting resources. Image courtesy of Shell UK.

    carte issue d’un article sur le démantèlement du champ #Brent
    https://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/brent-field-decommissioning-north-sea

    • Alors que la prospection en #mer_de_Barents a été très décevante.

      2017 Was a Disappointing Year for Drillers in Norway’s Arctic Waters - Bloomberg
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-11/hope-wanes-for-elephant-oil-finds-in-norway-s-arctic-waters

      After a disappointing year for drillers, Norwegian authorities are reviewing their hopes for the Nordic country’s hottest exploration area.

      In the part of the Barents Sea that’s currently open, you’ve sort of tried the elephants — the big opportunities,” Bente Nyland, the head of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, said in an interview. “You’re now down to the next generation in size.

      That means the industry regulator would be happy with any discovery of about 500 million barrels of oil, she said. That’s a far cry from the multibillion barrel deposits discovered in the North Sea, which have helped Norway become one of the world’s richest countries over the past decades.

      Apart from Statoil ASA’s #Snohvit gas field, no single discovery in the Barents has reached half a billion barrels. A record drilling campaign in the region last year yielded only one oil discovery with commercial potential. A particular disappointment was Statoil’s #Korpfjell well, the first to be drilled in the newly-opened Barents Sea South-East region abutting Russian waters. Estimated to have billion-barrel potential, the prospect proved to hold only unprofitable amounts of gas.

  • Broken pipeline cuts British supply during peak energy demand
    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-forties/forties-crude-oil-pipeline-now-closed-down-for-further-inspection-idUSKBN1E

    Britain’s biggest pipeline from its North Sea oil and gas fields is likely to be shut for several weeks for repairs, its operator said on Tuesday, disrupting gas flows and sending international crude prices to their highest since mid-2015.

    The closure has struck during a winter freeze in Britain, where snow and ice have driven up demand for heating fuel just as gas flows through the network, which carries a third of Britain’s gas produced offshore, were disrupted.

    We are working to get the pipeline restored to full operation as quickly as we can safely do so... We have previously indicated a time frame of three to four weeks and we believe it is no less than two,” operator INEOS said in a email to customers seen by Reuters.

    The pipeline, which carries about 450,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Forties crude, was shut after cracks were found.

    It has particular significance to global markets because Forties is the largest out of the five crude oil streams that underpin the dated Brent benchmark, against which other crude prices are broadly based. Benchmark Brent crude prices rose above $65 per barrel for the first time since the middle of 2015 following the closure on Monday.

    INEOS only completed the purchase of the Forties pipeline system from oil major BP in October. A minor leak had caused a partial shutdown on Dec. 7 and a full shutdown on Monday. INEOS said the small crack has not increased over the past 24 hours.

  • World’s First Floating Wind Farm Opens Up Off Scotland – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/hywind-sctoland-worlds-first-floating-wind-farm-opens-up-off-scotland

    The first offshore wind farm to use floating wind turbines has started producing power for the Scottish energy grid in what could be the start of offshore wind’s push into deeper and more favorable waters for renewable energy production.

    Hywind Scotland, the first floating wind farm in the world, was officially opened Wednesday by the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, officially opens the wind farm. The project is operated by Statoil in partnership with Masdar,

    The 30MW pilot wind farm is located in the North Sea about 25 kilometers offshore Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and will power approximately 20,000 households. The park, made up of five Siemens 6MW wind turbines, covers an area of about 4 square kilometers, and is located in water depth ranging from 95-120 meters. The area sees an average wind speed of about 10 meters per second.

  • North Sea Oil Squeezed as U.S. Ships Crude Like Never Before - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-10/north-sea-oil-sandwiched-as-u-s-ships-crude-like-never-before

    - European market faces influx of crude from across the Atlantic
    – At the same time, U.S. crude is now competing for Asian buyers

    As crude oil gushes out of the U.S. like never before, it looks increasingly like North Sea oil will suffer collateral damage.

    America exported a record high 1.98 million barrels a day of crude in the week ended Sept. 29, equal to the crude that normally gets shipped every day in the North Sea. Much of the U.S. outflow is going to Asia, which has become increasingly important in recent years in determining North Sea oil prices, effectively sandwiching Brent crude between bearish forces.

    It’s direct competition to North Sea production on many different fronts,” said Olivier Jakob, managing director at Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland. Where U.S. exports go to Asia, “it will be more difficult for the North Sea to push some of its barrels outside of the region. It creates competition. It’s going to be a bearish factor for the North Sea market.

  • British wind farm first to secure MHI Vestas’ record 9.5 MW turbines
    https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-windpower/british-wind-farm-first-to-secure-mhi-vestas-record-9-5-mw-turbines-idUK

    A consortium planning to build Britain’s #Triton_Knoll offshore wind park will buy 90 giant turbines from MHI Vestas, it said on Monday, in what the maker said was the first announced deal for its record 9.5 megawatt (MW) capacity product.

    A final investment decision for the wind park, in Britain’s North Sea, is likely in 2018 with full onshore construction starting shortly after, and offshore construction starting in 2020, it added.

    The 9.5 MW turbine, made by a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Denmark’s Vestas, has the world’s largest capacity, designed to challenge an 8.0 megawatt turbine by Siemens Gamesa, the market leader in the growing offshore market.

  • World’s first floating windfarm to take shape off coast of Scotland
    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/jun/27/hywind-project-scotland-worlds-first-floating-windfarm-norway

    Offshore windfarms are springing up across the North Sea for a reason – its waters are uniquely shallow enough to allow turbines to be mounted atop steel poles fixed to the seabed.

    However, such fixed-bottom turbines can only be installed at water depths down to 40 metres, making them little use for the steeply shelved coastlines of the US west coast or Japan.

    “If you look at coastlines around the world, there’s few that have sufficient area at depths down to 40 metres so if they want to deploy offshore wind, they need to introduce floating wind,” said Rummelhoff.

    As well as opening up new frontiers such as the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, floating windfarms could be placed farther out to sea to avoid the sort of aesthetic objections that scuppered a £3.5b windfarm off the Dorset coast.

    #énergies_renouvelables #éolien

  • Royal Navy escorts two Russian warships through Channel | UK news | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/15/royal-navy-escorts-two-russian-warships-through-channel


    One of the Steregushchiy-class corvettes – either Soobrazitelny or Boiky - that will be escorted by HMS Sutherland through the Channel.
    Photograph: PA

    Two Russian warships are to be escorted by a Royal Navy ship as they pass through the Channel.

    HMS Sutherland will monitor Steregushchiy-class corvettes Soobrazitelny and Boiky as well as a Russian support tanker and ocean-going tug when they sail close to UK territorial waters on Saturday.

    The ships were located by the Plymouth-based Type 23 frigate as they sailed through the North Sea towards the Dover Strait on Friday morning.

  • Offshore Wind Farms Offer Subsidy-Free Power for First Time - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-13/germany-gets-bids-for-first-subsidy-free-offshore-wind-farms

    German’s electricity grid regulator approved bids to build what will be the first offshore wind farms that depend entirely on market prices instead of government support and subsidy.

    The decision by Bundesnetzagentur, or BNetzA, grants power purchase agreements for 1,490 megawatts of wind farms to be built in the North Sea. Developers promised to supply power from the facilities at a record-low weighted average of 4.40 euros ($4.67) a megawatt-hour, less than a tenth of the previous offshore wind deal, the regulator said Thursday.

    The bids were “far below any expectations,” said BNetzA President Jochen Homann. They’re well beneath the market price for power in Germany, which has fallen 3.8 percent this year to 30.10 euros a megawatt-hour, according to broker data compiled by Bloomberg.

    • #Eolien en mer : des parcs sans subventions, une première mondiale
      https://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/energie-environnement/0211974112436-eolien-en-mer-des-parcs-sans-subventions-une-premiere-mondial

      « L’offre sans #subventions est rendue possible par certaines circonstances propres à cet appel d’offres », a indiqué Samuel Leupold, patron de l’éolien chez Dong, dans un communiqué.

      Il rappelle non seulement que les coûts de raccordement ne sont pas inclus, mais aussi que l’échéance envisagée, 2024, laisse le temps aux fournisseurs (pas encore choisis) de développer la prochaine génération de turbine : il table notamment sur des turbines de 13 à 15 MW - alors que les fournisseurs (Siemens, Vestas, General Electric) proposent aujourd’hui, au mieux, 8 ou 9 MW. Dong souligne aussi que le régime de vent de ces champs est favorable et qu’il bénéficiera de synergies avec des parcs qu’il exploite à proximité.

      [...] Dans les pays nordiques, les autorisations et les études de risques techniques sont aussi prises en charge en amont par l’Etat, ce qui permet aux énergéticiens de réduire leur risque et de proposer des prix plus bas. En France, une nouvelle procédure dite « de dialogue compétitif » vient d’entrer en vigueur pour l’appel d’offres en cours à Dunkerque. Sans éliminer toute part de risque pour les énergéticiens, elle devrait contribuer à réduire les coûts dans l’Hexagone.

      #énergies_renouvelables #électricité

    • Offshore » Wind turbines taller than the Eiffel Tower
      http://www.maritimedenmark.dk/?Id=18974
      (janvier 2017)

      The Danish government has presented a plan for the establishment of giant wind turbines, which with their 330 meters will be taller than the Eiffel Tower. The proposal will now be discussed in conciliation. The industry cheers as the Nature Conservation Association remains skeptical.[…]
      Before the Eiffel Tower sees itself be bested by a wind turbine, the proposal must be discussed in conciliation with Socialdemokratiet, Dansk Folkeparti og SF, be subject to an EIA study, as neighbors and other stakeholders will be consulted.
      The tallest wind turbine is 229,5 meters, was built by Nordex and stands in Germany, 100 km. north of Frankfurt

  • Big Oil Replaces Rigs With Wind Turbines - Bloomberg
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-23/oil-majors-take-a-plunge-in-industry-that-may-hurt-fossil-fuel


    Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

    Big oil is starting to challenge the biggest utilities in the race to erect wind turbines at sea.

    Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Statoil ASA and Eni SpA are moving into multi-billion-dollar offshore wind farms in the North Sea and beyond. They’re starting to score victories against leading power suppliers including Dong Energy A/S and Vattenfall AB in competitive auctions for power purchase contracts, which have developed a specialty in anchoring massive turbines on the seabed.

    The oil companies have many reasons to move into the industry. They’ve spent decades building oil projects offshore, and that business is winding down in some areas where older fields have drained. Returns from wind farms are predictable and underpinned by government-regulated electricity prices. And fossil fuel executives want to get a piece of the clean-energy business as forecasts emerge that renewables will eat into their market.

  • World’s First Ship Tunnel to Bypass Norway’s Most Dangerous Waters – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/worlds-first-ship-tunnel-to-bypass-dangerous-seas-in-norway


    An illustration of the Stad Ship Tunnel.
    Image credit: Norwegian Coastal Administration

    Norwegian officials have given the green light to fully finance what is set to become the world’s first full-scale ship tunnel, bypassing one of the most dangerous areas for vessels along the Norwegian coast.

    The Stad Ship Tunnel will be blasted through 1.7 miles of rock at the narrowest point of the Stad Peninsula, allowing ships the size of Hurtigruten’s coastal steamers to navigate it.

    What’s fascinating is that the tunnel isn’t expected to shave much time off the normal route, rather it is intended to allow ships to navigate more safely through the Stadhavet Sea where the North and Norwegian seas. The Stadhavet Sea is considered one of the most exposed and dangerous areas for vessels along the coast of Norway, with sometimes more than 100 storm days per year and a dangerous combination of wind, currents, and waves.


    Location of the Stad Ship Tunnel (in yellow).
    Credit: Norwegian Coastal Administration

    #Hurtigruten