The Sinking of Ro-Ro Ferries

Most ro-ro ferries have a design weakness in that if their car deck gets flooded, the ro-ro ferry can capsize in a few minutes, without allowing an orderly evacuation of the stricken vessel. The video shows a simple invention which helps to overcome this design weakness. The video was made in the year 2000.
For the SINKING OF THE ESTONIA, Type in the URL below:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa8x66_the-sinking-of-the-estoniaanother-v

Book Reference: Bird, John & Ross, Carl, "Mechanical Engineering Principles", Newnes, Oxford, UK, 2002.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ro-ro
• ferry
• stability
• the
• sinking
• of
• car
• ferries
• Herald
• Free
• Enterprise.

[Amiasurui2]

Why am I watching this in a place where ferries are a main way to travel??

[carltfross]

@Amiasurui2 Ro-Ro Ferries can be made much safer, if a perforated car deck is built above the existing watertight car deck, and the two decks are separated by a large number of dwarf longitudinal bulkheads, going along the 'full' length of the ship. This will stop sloshing, that causes a ro-ro ferry to capsize very quickly, thus preventing an orderly evacuation of the ship. Moreover, if hydraulic pumps are placed within these compartments, the water can be pumped out, as fast as it comes in!!

[iampeeay01]

Nice design... :) i feel bad for the victims of the capsized roro...

[carltfross]

@iampeeay01 Thanks for your valuable comments. Have a look on my youtube video, under "Car Ferry (Ro-Ro Ferry) Losses_24-02-2011"; where I describe, amongst other things; the sinking of the Estonia!

[EJL2004]

Major communication break down, 2nd bosun (I believe thats who it was) didn't do his job to secure the bow doors, and the Officers and Captain didn't re-trim the vessel after loading, in a day to day attempt to keep her schedule. I work on Ro-Ro's for a living, and Safety first is a bit of a fib. Money and the Schedule seem to over rule things a lot of the time. So thats 3 different steps that didn't happen, creating this tragedy. Of course, we learn a heck of a lot from every accident.

[carltfross]

@EJL2004 Thanks for your valuable comments. Have a look on my youtube video, under "Car Ferry (Ro-Ro Ferry) Losses_24-02-2011"; where I describe, amongst other things; the sinking of the Estonia!

[Marcus666Sund]

Why doesn't she mention Estonia? Thats a even bigger accident than HofE.

[joelang6126]

@HenryVIII1971 Every ship has a keel and they are not death traps in storms any more than any other ship is. The problem the free surface effect on an open deck or cargo shift. Cargo doesn't just effect RO/PAX, it can happen to most cargo ships.

[carltfross]

@carltfross Thanks for your valuable comments. Have a look on my youtube video, under "Car Ferry (Ro-Ro Ferry) Losses_24-02-2011"; where I describe, amongst other things; the sinking of the Estonia!

[carltfross]

@imegatrone Thanks for your valuable comments. Have a look on my youtube video, under "Car Ferry (Ro-Ro Ferry) Losses_24-02-2011"; where I describe, amongst other things; the sinking of the Estonia!

[carltfross]

@willamricard Thanks for your valuable comments. Have a look on my youtube video, under "Car Ferry (Ro-Ro Ferry) Losses_24-02-2011"; where I describe, amongst other things; the sinking of the Estonia!

[carltfross]

@AntoMelta Thanks for your valuable comments. Have a look on my youtube video, under "Car Ferry (Ro-Ro Ferry) Losses_24-02-2011"; where I describe, amongst other things; the sinking of the Estonia!

[carltfross]

@AntoMelta Thanks for your valuable comments. Have a look on my youtube video, under "Car Ferry (Ro-Ro Ferry) Losses_24-02-2011"; where I describe, amongst other things; the sinking of the Estonia!

[carltfross]

@bebeheuy Thanks for your valuable comments. Have a look on my youtube video, under "Car Ferry (Ro-Ro Ferry) Losses_24-02-2011"; where I describe, amongst other things; the sinking of the Estonia!