Supercat (ship)
 'The ship as Polarstern in 2006
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The Supercat is a high-speed ferry designed as a catamaran .
history
The catamaran was 1995/1996 as Ocean Fast Ferries No 16 with the hull number 16 from the shipyard International Shipyard in Western Australia Henderson for Ocean Fast Ferries built. Since Oceanfast Ferries did not accept the newbuilding due to bankruptcy (other source: due to the inefficient propulsion system), the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group initially became the owner of the ship. The launched ship was then converted into a conventionally powered high-speed catamaran in 1998/99 according to the rules of the classification society Bureau Veritas and offered for sale again. In 2000 the catamaran was sold to AG Ems and officially put into service for the first time in October of that year. Then the ship was rebuilt once more according to the rules of the new classification society Germanischer Lloyd and adapted to the requirements of the Ems AG . The catamaran was then transferred from Australia to the Ems on the deck of a cargo ship . The AG Ems left the catamaran in on 27 April 2001 Papenburg was baptized when Polarstern put into service and set it between Emden , Eemshaven , Borkum and Helgoland one.
In the summer months of 2007 and 2008 the catamaran was in use for the Wilhelmshaven-Helgoland-Line.
In October 2008 - according to the shipping company due to high energy costs - the sale to Linda-Lines, which operates the catamaran as Karolin under the flag of Estonia between Tallinn and Helsinki .
In June 2018, the Golden Star Shipping Company from Piraeus took over the ship and has been using it as a Supercat in Greece under the Golden Star Ferries brand since mid-2018 . Here it is now on the Piraeus - Mykonos route .
2008 accident
On August 4, 2008, the catamaran Polarstern had an accident on the way back from Heligoland to Borkum on the open sea. In the accident, which is now classified as the worst accident in the history of AG Ems , parts of the catamaran's bow railing , to which a spherical fender was attached, were torn off and broke through one of the front windows some time later. The broken window was closed with the help of a sea shutter. In addition, considerable cracks appeared in the ship's load-bearing structures during the crossing, which could have led to the shipwreck. When departing from Heligoland, the forecasts indicated predominantly wave heights of around two meters, in no case more than 2.5 meters, which is the maximum permissible limit for this ship. The investigation report by the Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation shows that the waves on the North Sea were actually over 2.5 meters high when they were cast.
More than 26 people were injured in the accident, three of whom were flown out of the destination port by helicopter. The repair of the catamaran took four weeks and cost around 500,000 euros. The ship's captain was fined in November 2008 for negligent bodily harm .
Role of balloon fender
It has been proven that the 13.5 kg spherical balloon fenders with a diameter of 93 cm were regularly tied to the railing during the journey. Such a balloon fender was attached to the railing, which had broken through the windshield in the accident, which put a lot of stress on the railing due to the heavy swell and thus significantly encouraged the railing to tear off. Due to the deformation of the fore, the railing built on it came under mechanical tension and was torn off in 3 parts over a length of 6.5 m.
The ship's command has already decided on Heligoland not to drive at full speed, but it was only a machine problem and the clearly visible damage to the broken windscreen that prompted the ship's command to reduce the speed more. Since considerable cracks had already appeared in the load-bearing structure of the catamaran at this point in time, continuing to sail at undiminished speed might have led to the shipwreck. Therefore, indirectly, the balloon fender may have prevented worse.
See also
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Catamaran "Polarstern" came to life , Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung , April 28, 2001
- ↑ "Polarstern" catamaran sold by shipping company , Die Welt, October 29, 2008
- ↑ Equasis , August 6, 2019
- ↑ Ex-damaged ship »Polarstern« goes into the Mediterranean. December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017 .
- ↑ HSC Supercat - Golden Star Ferries. Retrieved August 5, 2019 (American English).
- ^ Federal Bureau of Maritime Casualty Investigation (BSU): Investigation report No. 400/08 on the serious marine casualty involving the high-speed passenger craft (HSC) Polarstern . In: NfS 18/09 of April 30, 2009, p. 4.4, BSH , Hamburg / Rostock 2009, ISSN 0027-7444
- ↑ Serious marine accident with personal injury and property damage on board the POLARSTERN ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , BSU press release of April 15, 2009
- ↑ a b Personal accident on board the HSC POLARSTERN on August 4, 2008 on the return journey from Helgoland to Emden , BSU investigation report 400/08 of April 15, 2009
- ↑ SPIEGEL-online accident on the Heligoland ferry: "We flew like a rollercoaster", August 5, 2008 , accessed on September 24, 2015
- ↑ "Polarstern" Kapitän sentenced to a fine , The World , December 1, 2008
