At the end of March, footage flashed across the news of the Scandinavian Viking Sky cruise ship motors failing and the ship rocking awfully on the rough waves. The images were quite terrifying with crew, passengers and anything loose on the ship (including a beautiful grand piano) being flung from side to side as the cruise ship lost all stability in the turbulent sea and rocked precariously.
The Viking Sky had 1,400 passengers and crew aboard the ship and was sailing from Tromso to Stavanger, when the low oil levels in the engine directly caused a cataclysmic engine failure, knocking out the stabilising mechanism that boats use to remain upright and stable in rough crossings. While engine lubricating oil levels had been checked before setting off and were within the minimal required limits, the high gusts and tall waves created such movement below deck that the alarms were soon set off to alert of a too low level of oil, leading to a rapid and automatic shutdown of the engines on the Saturday.
A Safe Return to Port
The ship soon dropped anchor and issued a mayday call for rescue, luckily 479 people were successfully airlifted during this time before the crew managed to restart the engines on the Sunday and sail into the nearest Norwegian Port with their remaining 900 passengers and crew on board. There were plenty of injuries reported and 36 individuals admitted to hospital, four of which were crew members and one member reportedly rushed to intensive care but now in a positive, stable position.
Revisiting Procedures
Viking Ocean Cruises have announced they will be revisiting all their procedures to ensure nothing like this happens again and the Viking Sky will go in for intensive, necessary repairs to ensure it doesn’t suffer the same fate in the future. Shipping companies, ship brokers, and cruise providers around the world will likely also be revisiting their procedures to ensure this sort of problem doesn’t occur with their vehicles. Amazingly, this could have been much worse, had the waves picked up in intensity the ship may have potentially capsized and considering the scary situation that these passengers and crew found themselves in, it’s incredible there were no fatal injuries.
Stabilising Ships
While it’s not uncommon to find technology details on most the world’s modern technological wonders, it’s not often that you see a low-down on the amazing technology that make up huge cruise liners and all important-shipping vessels.
In many cases, stabilisers on ships are fixed parts that jut out from the hull in order to counter the pressure the ship feels from rolling waves. However, modern-day advancements have seen the introduction of sensor detecting systems combined with gyroscopic stabilisers which can retract and adjust automatically under control of the onboard control system and reacting in real time to wind and sea conditions. Unfortunately, in the case of the Viking Sky, these were tied to the engine and once the engine failed, the stabilisation systems were lost, creating the frightening rocking seen in the video report.
Not Just for Sea Sickness
Seasoned and newbie cruise goers will understand what living on a ship for a small amount of time entails however many first-time cruisers are put off by the potential rocking feeling and subsequent feelings of seasickness. While stabilisers are fantastic at ensuring passengers have a smooth, enjoyable journey, it’s also important for those employing ocean liners and port services for shipping parts and goods. If these ships didn’t employ an active or reliable type of stabiliser, there is the threat of loosing precious and expensive cargo, which is not only bad for business but leaves all sorts of harmful materials in our beautiful oceans.
Will this put you off a cruise holiday? Or are you a keen sailor looking forward to getting back on deck this Summer? What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
