Star Azipod News and progress

[pieshops]

So after all this wonderful pre planed maintenance perhaps you might inform us how the ship came to be drifting 32km off the coast of Wonthaggi ?

 

The answer is that is very easy for the owners of FOC registered ships to cut corners

 

Properly maintained ships do not have continued multiple incidences of propulsion failure

 

 

Regards

John

 

Having being affected by this whole on our december sailing, I in no way think NCL is cutting corners or trying to patch this along. Things happen, I change the oil every 3000 miles on my car, I perform all the recommended maintenance that Ford recommends and my car which is 4 years old has still broken down 3 times in its lifetime. Things break. This is a PR nightmare for NCL. This is their first foray into the Asian market and every single sailing since beginning of December has had an issue, this is a disaster for them in the bad publicity, refunds, lost revenue and credits they have had to issue for future sailings. There is no doubt in my mind they are doing everything they can to fix these issues ( none of which have been the same piece breaking that was previously fixed). They want this to end more then the passengers do

[Charlies Aunt]

 

For those sailing onward, may the pods (both of them, and all components feeding them) be with you and if you're on the March 9 sailing would you toast my 50th for me somewhere around Colombo?

 

IT would be my absolute pleasure to do that for you and I wish you great success in your future...be that with NCL or otherwise.

[richstowe]

I don't understand all these apologists .

Having being affected by this whole on our december sailing, I in no way think NCL is cutting corners or trying to patch this along. Things happen, I change the oil every 3000 miles on my car, I perform all the recommended maintenance that Ford recommends and my car which is 4 years old has still broken down 3 times in its lifetime. Things break. This is a PR nightmare for NCL. This is their first foray into the Asian market and every single sailing since beginning of December has had an issue, this is a disaster for them in the bad publicity, refunds, lost revenue and credits they have had to issue for future sailings. There is no doubt in my mind they are doing everything they can to fix these issues ( none of which have been the same piece breaking that was previously fixed). They want this to end more then the passengers do

Interesting that you are so willing to give NCL the benefit of the doubt . Since you shared your car history , let me turn it into an analogy . IF you had brake issues on and off and you discovered that your rear brakes were not working , how confident would you be with just the front brakes ? So frankly I don't care if this has been a nightmare for Norwegian . Limping along with a single azimuth is irresponsible and it was only luck that prevented a tragedy when the second one went near shore .

[chengkp75]

I don't understand all these apologists .Interesting that you are so willing to give NCL the benefit of the doubt . Since you shared your car history , let me turn it into an analogy . IF you had brake issues on and off and you discovered that your rear brakes were not working , how confident would you be with just the front brakes ? So frankly I don't care if this has been a nightmare for Norwegian . Limping along with a single azimuth is irresponsible and it was only luck that prevented a tragedy when the second one went near shore .

 

And I guess that all the maritime safety agencies in the world, and the maritime insurance industry, would disagree with you that a single propulsion system is "irresponsible". And to modify your analogy a bit further to match the Star situation, if the car's manufacturer (ABB for the azipods) and the NHTSA (the Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Singaporean, Indonesian, and finaly Australian maritime safety agencies) said it was safe, I'd be pretty confident that I could operate the car safely until the parts were available to make repairs.

[Loonbeam]

I repeat my previous statement.

 

There is ZERO chance that the ship was allowed to sail with any known potential issues that would leave them without effective propulsion. This is not a matter of cutting corners, this is a matter of massive liability and marine law.

 

It didn't happen. It is a perfectly safe assumption that when they left port, they expected to arrive at their planned final port. Did they recognize there may be delays or itinerary changes, probably, but that is VERY different scenario than going out expecting or even anticipating being adrift.

 

We have no idea what's wrong on board, as noted. The most likely scenario is that the prior repairs put strain on a previously undiagnosed issue somewhere else in the system which caused the failure. There is no way to predict that.

 

We have no idea what any risk was because we don't know what the ship could have done if needed, what other resources were available, etc. While there has been one egregious exception in the last decade, the safety of passengers is a Captains number one priority, and I don't care what corp says, if a Captain is not comfortable sailing, that ship will not sail.

[CP Tech]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, what has failed each time that the pods went down? Motor, thrust bearing, shaft seal, transformer, inverter (power SCR's, or control circuit boards), azimuthing system? I can't say, but it is highly unusual for these systems, which are required to be inspected by third party (class society) and serviced every drydocking, and the maintenance program to meet the manufacturer's and class society's

 

 

Believe me that drydocking is not the end all and be all for ship repairs.

 

 

This post, in its entirety, is exactly what this thread needed. Well said.

 

Coming from someone who's daily job is PLC's and VFD's (ironically a LOT of ABB drives) and deal with the safety of people's lives, it's nice to see someone try to sort out everything that is involved to anyone who hasn't worked in the industry, and may not entirely know how much goes into a system like this.

 

 

 

 

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[lovenewexperiences1]

And then there's me over here wondering is it fixed yet? Anyone have any updates?

 

 

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[aussie cruzer]

Here's the letter going out today.

 

Thanks to CC Newyork1

 

 

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[lovenewexperiences1]

Yay! Thank you!!

 

 

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[armwinder]

Here's the letter going out today.

 

Thanks to CC Newyork1

 

 

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It does not say if both pods are working or only one?

[DaveS32]

Here's the letter going out today.

 

Thanks to CC Newyork1

 

 

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Great news, everything crossed that's the last of the problems!

[richstowe]

BAND AID ALERT :D

It does not say if both pods are working or only one?

That's what I was thinking .

[timf2001]

I'm not sure how they can declare it departed on February 14 at 2:00 PM local time when it's currently only 6:30 AM on 2/14. Hopefully the problem really is fixed, but for now it's still docked in Melbourne and over 7 hours from scheduled departure.

[triptolemus]

I'm not sure how they can declare it departed on February 14 at 2:00 PM local time when it's currently only 6:30 AM on 2/14. Hopefully the problem really is fixed, but for now it's still docked in Melbourne and over 7 hours from scheduled departure.

 

It kind of appears that screenshot above is saying that this is the statement that is going out [at some point in the future].

[AmazedByCruising]

I can. Have seen it. They will scream willful negligence, etc. Doesn't mean they will WIN, but there are always a bunch of lawyers willing to fire paperwork at a company in hopes of a go away settlement and a quick buck.

 

Isn't there some system in place that could backfire at the lawyers? Like a judge saying "this is such a ridiculous case, the laywer himself will have to pay not only for legal costs made by the company but an extra million as well as punishment for willfully abusing the system"?

[aussie cruzer]

It kind of appears that screenshot above is saying that this is the statement that is going out [at some point in the future].

Exactly,

 

 

 

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[DaveS32]

It does not say if both pods are working or only one?

Given the arrival time in Auckland, it would need both Azipods to make it by then.

[chengkp75]

It does not say if both pods are working or only one?

 

As this itinerary requires about 18-19 knots, I would say they are running on two.

[aussie cruzer]

Ncl must be confident it will be fixed,some folks from the Brisbane departure that was previously cancelled have been told it's back on and the Ncl provided flights are not required.

 

The ship can't make Brisbane in time on just one pod,so we can presume it's back to two.

 

 

 

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[DaveS32]

Ncl must be confident it will be fixed,some folks from the Brisbane departure that was previously cancelled have been told it's back on and the Ncl provided flights are not required.

 

The ship can't make Brisbane in time on just one pod,so we can presume it's back to two.

 

 

 

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As confident as they can be. A good run over the Tasman should test the Azipods out.

[traveler9999]

Not sure I like the word they used "addressed" instead of something more concrete like "repaired".

 

Just curious.... but if its expected to arrive in Auckland before 12 pm on Feb. 18, does that mean both azipods must be fully operational for it to arrive at that time? (I'm not sure if that's the time it takes a fully functional ship takes to cruise that distance, or if they still expect it to go slower than normal because it is not "fully" repaired?)

 

Now.....they wouldn't possibly leave land without it being 100% fixed, right.....?!?

[traveler9999]

sorry, didn't notice, looks like someone already answered my question that both azipods must be working in order to arrive in Auckland in time, thanks, let's hope for the best!

[chengkp75]

Not sure I like the word they used "addressed" instead of something more concrete like "repaired".

 

Just curious.... but if its expected to arrive in Auckland before 12 pm on Feb. 18, does that mean both azipods must be fully operational for it to arrive at that time? (I'm not sure if that's the time it takes a fully functional ship takes to cruise that distance, or if they still expect it to go slower than normal because it is not "fully" repaired?)

 

Now.....they wouldn't possibly leave land without it being 100% fixed, right.....?!?

 

As noted above, it requires 18-19 knots to make the proposed timetable, and the ship could only make 16-18 knots on one pod. The announcement says that the ship has been cleared by class, which along with the Australian maritime safety agency are what is required. It is unlikely they would sail with just one pod, if both could be repaired, but it would not be completely disallowed.

[casofilia]

It does not say if both pods are working or only one?

 

It also said, and I quote (my emphasis),

 

The ship departed from Melbourne on February 14th at 2pm local time

 

The time/date in Melbourne at the present is 7.20am on the 14th February.

 

How can someone earning enormous sums of money put his name to a document that is so totally incorrect.

Edited February 13, 2017 by casofilia
typo

[casofilia]

It kind of appears that screenshot above is saying that this is the statement that is going out [at some point in the future].

 

But it has already been released!!