QM2 Speed fluctuations

[Dranuc2016]

Does anyone know if there is something unusual with the QM2?

During this first westbound crossing of the season,  I noticed the course on at least two occasions has turned to the northeast towards Ireland.  My first thought was that there was possibly a medical evacuation.  Then it happened again.   I then noticed the speed has been alternating between about 20kn and almost stopped.  Could the QM2 be conducting a search?

[bluemarble]

I saw something similar with QM2's course as reported by marinetraffic as she was sailing between Barcelona and Lisbon earlier this month. It looked like she was headed toward Cadiz, so the first thing I thought of was she was diverting for a medical evacuation.

 

But the problem was with her heading that was being reported, not her true heading. The heading being reported on marinetraffic was northeast at either 28° or 29° while her actual heading was northwest somewhere between 280° and 299°. I surmised that was some kind of problem with the last digit of her heading being dropped off. On a few occasions, her heading was incorrectly reported as 0° due north. It wasn't consistently off. Sometimes the heading was correct, other times it was not.

 

I haven't checked since then, but it looks like the same issue is still happening with her heading as it's being reported on marinetraffic.

 

I didn't notice an issue earlier with her speed being reported as fluctuating, but I can't say I looked very closely at that.

 

Edit: As I examine QM2's past track in marinetraffic, it looks like her reported speed has been fluctuating between 21/22 knots and 2.1/2.2 knots. That would be another case of the the actual value being divided by 10, similar to her course.

Edited April 16, 2019 by bluemarble

[sogne]

23 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

I saw something similar with QM2's course as reported by marinetraffic as she was sailing between Barcelona and Lisbon earlier this month. It looked like she was headed toward Cadiz, so the first thing I thought of was she was diverting for a medical evacuation.

 

But the problem was with her heading that was being reported, not her true heading. The heading being reported on marinetraffic was northeast at either 28° or 29° while her actual heading was northwest somewhere between 280° and 299°. I surmised that was some kind of problem with the last digit of her heading being dropped off. On a few occasions, her heading was incorrectly reported as 0° due north. It wasn't consistently off. Sometimes the heading was correct, other times it was not.

 

I haven't checked since then, but it looks like the same issue is still happening with her heading as it's being reported on marinetraffic.

 

I didn't notice an issue earlier with her speed being reported as fluctuating, but I can't say I looked very closely at that.

 

Edit: As I examine QM2's past track in marinetraffic, it looks like her reported speed has been fluctuating between 21/22 knots and 2.1/2.2 knots. That would be another case of the the actual value being divided by 10, similar to her course.

Not just QM2 it occurs with other vessels on MT

[bluemarble]

Just now, sogne said:

Not just QM2 it occurs with other vessels on MT

 

Thanks for that. Good to know it's a problem with marine traffic then. I figured it almost had to be, but I hadn't been checking other vessels.

[GeeBee22]

I was on QM2 from Barcelona to lisbon on her world cruise , we arrived in lisbon 1 hour late as we were told by our captain due to very strong wind overnight.