Japanese shipping giant Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) is suing shipbuilder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) to recover losses from the splitting in two and sinking of the 8,110-TEU MOL Comfort off Yemen last June, according to Shipping Gazette.
The inquiry has yet to reveal why MOL Comfort sank with a full load of containers, reported Lloyd's List, adding that the case has been filed in Tokyo District Court after the interim accident report did not establish the cause.
Led by MOL, MHI and ClassNK, with Lloyd's Register providing technical advice, the report said the MOL Comfort split amidships at the bottom part of the hull after it had experienced convex deformations in a longitudinal direction.
Investigators also discovered 20-millimetre buckling deformations on the bottom shell plates of the six sister vessels, which were all called in for hull strengthening, and enhanced to twice the strength level required by ClassNK and the International Association of Classification Societies.
VesselsValue.com puts the value of the ship at US$45.8 million before the accident, to which the losses of 4,372 containers aboard and related expenses may be added in the damage claim.
In 2007, the vessels were the first in the world to use high-tensile steel, which was supposed to enhance the reliability of hulls against brittle fractures through reduced plate thickness, according to an MHI report.
Before 2007, the largest containership the MHI Nagasaki yard had built was a 6,208 TEUer, according to London shipbroker Clarksons.
The inquiry has yet to reveal why MOL Comfort sank with a full load of containers, reported Lloyd's List, adding that the case has been filed in Tokyo District Court after the interim accident report did not establish the cause.
Led by MOL, MHI and ClassNK, with Lloyd's Register providing technical advice, the report said the MOL Comfort split amidships at the bottom part of the hull after it had experienced convex deformations in a longitudinal direction.
Investigators also discovered 20-millimetre buckling deformations on the bottom shell plates of the six sister vessels, which were all called in for hull strengthening, and enhanced to twice the strength level required by ClassNK and the International Association of Classification Societies.
VesselsValue.com puts the value of the ship at US$45.8 million before the accident, to which the losses of 4,372 containers aboard and related expenses may be added in the damage claim.
In 2007, the vessels were the first in the world to use high-tensile steel, which was supposed to enhance the reliability of hulls against brittle fractures through reduced plate thickness, according to an MHI report.
Before 2007, the largest containership the MHI Nagasaki yard had built was a 6,208 TEUer, according to London shipbroker Clarksons.