Seki Rolette
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The Seki Rolette was a ConRo ship that sank in April 1992 after a collision in the Weser estuary.
history
The ship was built in 1976 as the Blue Kobe at the Kanda Zosensho shipyard in Kure , Japan for the Tokyo shipping company Nissei Kaiun. In 1978 the shipping company Sekiyo Seibaku from Sendai acquired the ship and renamed it Kaduna . In 1982 the ship was flagged out of Japan on the Sekiyo Line to Panama and received its last name Seki Rolette .
On April 23, 1992 at around 1:00 a.m. , the Seki Rolette destined for Hamburg collided in the eastern fairway of the Terschelling-German Bight traffic separation area with the container ship Choyang Moscow, which was leaving the Outer Weser and was on its maiden voyage . The Seki Rolette was hit on her starboard side and sank within a few minutes, killing the master and four crew members ; 19 other sailors were rescued from the sea. Around 120 tons of slop and 100 tons of oil leaked out due to the sinking.
The day after the collision, the Choyang Moscow arrived at Motorenwerke Bremerhaven (MWB) for repairs . The destroyed bulbous bow was replaced there by the beginning of May by a bulbous bow that was ready for a sister ship under construction .
In June 1992, a German-Dutch recovery community won the contract to remove the wreck of the Seki Rolette , which endangered the dense shipping traffic in the eastward direction of the traffic separation area. First, the wreck, which was already sanding up, was erected with the floating cranes Roland , Thor , Taklift 5 and the winch pontoon Taklift 7 , but further work had to be interrupted due to a period of bad weather. The actual lifting of the 7,000-ton wreck was then carried out in September 1992 with the floating cranes Roland , Thor and Taklift 1 and the lifting pontoons Tak 10 and Takcrane 1 . The ship, which was lifted on September 22nd, was set down on September 25th in the shallow water of the Neuwerker Elbe Fahrwahrwassers, where it was initially planned to prepare it for direct transport to the scrapping yard . However, the collision and recovery damage turned out to be too serious, whereupon it was decided to use the Giant 3 heavy lift pontoon . After several unsuccessful attempts to get the wreck onto the pontoon at Neuwerk, Seki Rolette and pontoon were towed to Waltershofer Hafen, where it was finally possible on October 26 to lift the wrecked vessel onto the deck of the pontoon. Two days later, the tug train left Hamburg for Rotterdam, where the wreck, which protruded far beyond the pontoon, was provisionally stiffened and prepared for the final trip to Aliağa for demolition . On November 8th the tug with the tug Toisa Intrepid left Rotterdam and finally arrived at the port of destination on November 27th.
meaning
The Seki Rolette case is still considered to be an outstanding ship accident for a number of reasons. The collision and recovery were followed with great media interest in 1992 and the handling of the case under maritime and commercial law is still reflected in the specialist literature to this day. On the one hand, the collision raised questions about traffic management and monitoring in the German Bight . In order to avoid similar marine casualties, the traffic routing of the Outer Weser into the adjoining traffic separation area was changed on October 8, 1992 and the renaming of the previously German-named traffic separation areas to the international English form was initiated. On the other hand, the rescue of the Seki Rolette was the largest lifting of a complete wreck in one piece off the German coast. In addition, the salvage costs were borne for the first time differently from the traditional Lloyd's Open Form .
technology
The superstructure , machinery and RoRo ramp were arranged aft. The ship had three holds with two decks and extensive, conventional cargo gear with two 60-ton booms and three 20-ton booms. The propulsion of the ship consisted of a sixteen - cylinder four - stroke diesel engine in a V arrangement with 7758 kW , built under license from Nippon Kokan , which acted on the propeller via a gearbox .
literature
- Jan Mordhorst: Rescuing the “Seki Rolette” - A mighty piece of work. In: Schiffahrt international , 3/1993, pp. 28–30.