The final voyage of the satellite Panama-flag cattle ship falls directly into the eyes of the typhoon

Shocking new analysis by the global satellite analytics firm, Windward, shows the final moments of a large cattle ship that sank last week, going directly into the East China Sea in the eyes of a major storm.

On Tuesday 1 September the sinking Panama-registered vessel was transporting 6000 live cattle and 43 crew on a trip from New Zealand to China.

So far 3 crew have been rescued under dramatic circumstances. One told that the ship called Bay Livestock 1, Had experienced loss of engine power.

New satellite analysis shows that Bay Livestock 1 It was the only ship to go into the storm. All other ships were cleaned Typhoon mayesak, Which has brought devastation to the Korean coast and has been the strongest thunderstorm ever in 2020.

A converted container ship

The vessel is known as Bay Livestock 1 Originally built as a container ship in 2002 for the world’s largest shipping company, Maersk. The vessel was 133 meters long (just flagged in half of Panama, was iron-ore. Wakashio Vessel which crashed in Mauritius in July) and powered by a single diesel engine.

In 2015, the ship was transformed into a live cattle transport vessel, named Rahmeh. It was renamed Bay Livestock 1 In 2019 and was owned by Gulf Navigation Holding, Based in the United Arab Emirates, but a Panama ship was under the registration flag.

The vessel was regularly inspected, but had a history of deficiencies. It was once detained by Australian authorities. This flag is the responsibility of the state, in this case Panama, to ensure the vessels under its registration comply with maritime safety standards and laws.

last journey

Bay Livestock 1 On August 14, Napier left New Zealand and was bound for Jingtang in Tangshan, China, on a journey that should have taken 17 days.

The ship had just crossed the Japanese islands Okinoerabujma When it went into trouble and stopped broadcasting. The captain had issued a distress signal at 1.40 pm on 2 September 2020.

He was also communicating the situation in a rapid set of frantic cell phone messages to his family. Captain Edugh, 34, was one of the youngest captains of the province Ifugo In the northern part of the philippines.

Directly into the eye of typhoon maysak

When Windward was able to layer at the height of the wind and the wave for the final voyage of the Bay’s livestock, it soon became clear that it was going straight into his eye Typhoon mayesak.

Typhoon mayesak Reached its peak intensity on 1 September, being a Category 4 hurricane and by 2020 the most powerful thunderstorm. Wind speeds were estimated at over 145 mph.

Analysis of wind speed and wave height reveals stormy conditions between storms. The 15 m scale has an upper limit, and the height of the wave may well be higher.

Typhoon Mayesak reached thunderstorm strength on August 29 and became the strongest thunderstorm in the Western Pacific in 2020 with winds of over 145 mph so far.

The 8-inch rain from the thunderstorm will fall on grounds that are already saturated with South Korean’s second-best monsoon season on record.

Other ships had cleared the typhoon

Although the crew had reported engine failure, an important area of ​​investigation would be the decision and equipment to go into the eye of a major thunderstorm.

Analysis of other ships in the East China Sea shows that all other ships had drifted away from the worsening storm.

Using an analysis by Windward, a global satellite analytics company, this can be compared with general ship traffic patterns in the East China Sea that show much greater movement between the Japanese islands and the Chinese mainland.

Lessons from the worst US maritime losses in recent years: The El faru In the bahamas

Reminiscent of the sinking of the route taken by the ship directly into the path of a thunderstorm El faru On 1 October 2015, the US worst maritime disaster for 30 years.

In El faru The incident, which occurred off the coast of the Bahamas coast, sailed directly into a category 3 hurricane, Hurricane Joaquin and potentially experienced waves of 12 m and 92 mph winds.

33 crew and 391 containers were lost. The subsequent 400-page US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report drew three important conclusions, and was heavily influenced by the recovered voice recorder (known as the voyage data recorder), which mandated all ocean going vessels Is and it was received again. Sea surface.

Main NTSB Conclusion:

• The captain criticized the head’s decision in the ensuing storm, but also mentioned that he relied on old weather information from a commercial service
• Criticized Dadagiri’s Coast Guard behavior in ships, exempting them from safe life saving standards
• Recognized the owner’s failure to maintain a deteriorating ship

A $ 7m lawsuit was later filed against the navigation equipment manufacturer by the ship’s insurance companies.

The lawsuit, filed in a Florida federal court, alleged that the Bon Voage system version 7, used by El Faroo, “provided delayed, inaccurate and misleading information about the state of the storm and was an important factor in vessel sailing. Almost directly In the eye of the storm. According to the lawsuit, the equipment was manufactured, distributed and sold by StromGeo (dba Applied Weather Technology).

This was followed by an attempt by the families to sue the owner of the ship which attracted significant media attention.

There have been many other conspiracies in maritime liability cases. In 2012, after Cosco Busan Ship owner, bunker fuel spill in San Francisco harbor Regal Stone Limited, And operator Fleet Management Limited, CVS (which is owned by the pharmacy), a US veteran suing, alleged that the prescription was canceled. “Carelessly and carelessly“Cloud after pharmacists John Cota’s decision by pharmacists.

Panama-flagged vessel safety record again in question

As another Panama-flagged ship, an oil supernaker sits smoldering off the coast of Sri Lanka in the northern Indian Ocean, causing concern for many countries (President of Maldives worries about oil heading to Maldives’ shores Expressed), the ability of the world’s largest ship registrar to maintain high maritime safety standards is under scrutiny.

This follows misleading statements by the Panama Maritime Authority about events leading to the Wakashio crash, even though there were publicly published accounts that showed satellite data was already showing in Panaman accounts and publicly Was available

As Panama prepares to send a senior delegation from Mauritius to investigate the incident Wakashio, Calls for independent, international investigations are on the rise to avoid any potential perceived conflict of interest.

Last week, President Macron made another high-profile visit to Beirut and earlier sent a senior delegation to Mauritius. He has positioned himself as taking a strong leadership position on sustainability issues, as France seeks to strengthen the position in the group of G20 countries.

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