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Car transporter ship develops a list (leans to one side)

Look at the angle of the list on this ship, packed full of cars.

On July 23, 2006, The Cougar Ace was en route from Japan to Vancouver, British Columbia, Tacoma, Washington, and Port Hueneme, California, with a cargo of 4,812 vehicles.

During a transfer of ballast water, she lost stability and developed an 80-degree list to port. There were reports of a large wave striking the vessel during the ballast transfer, but it is unknown what effect this had on her loss of stability. On July 24, the US Coast Guard successfully rescued the 23 crew members. .

Approximately 4,700 of the vehicles were Mazdas, with about 60% of these being the 2007 Mazda3s and 30% being Mazda CX-7 crossover SUVs. The remaining Mazdas are RX-8s and MX-5s. About 100 of the vehicles were not Mazdas, but the exact make of those has not been disclosed.

They are said to be valued at US$117 million. Mitsui OSK is executing a salvage operation in order to recover as many assets as possible.

More pics here http://opendomain.blogspot....
Story here http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

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By netchicken: posted on 24-11-2006

good one netchicken

I had a look at the thread thinking "a list of what?" I wonder how many items are on the list? so now I know it is a list of cars.

Ho thank the Lord for the morning.

By Richard Principal: posted on 25-11-2006

Wow. I wonder if the cars are strapped down in these things the way they are on land car carriers. If not, I can't imagine any of them aren't damaged.

A possible rogue wave? I find the subject of rogue waves intriguing, but I never want to see one myself. Of course, they could just be hinting at this cause they screwed up shifting the ballast, except why would they be shifting the ballast in the middle of the sea? Isn't that something you take care of before you hit the open waters?

(I almost said before you hit the road, but that would just be tacky :P)

By MELtdown: posted on 25-11-2006

At the "Mazda forum" you can see a picture or two

http://www.msprotege.com/fo...

Sorry the URL instertor still does not work but normaly the link does.

By Richard Principal: posted on 25-11-2006

Looks like all the cars are getting scrapped

Mazda just announced that it has decided to scrap all 4,703 vehicles that were aboard the Cougar Ace cargo vessel when it nearly capsized off the Aleutian Islands in Alaska back in late July. The shipping vessel sat listing to one side for over a month before it was towed to and repaired at a port in Oregon. During that time, the vehicles on board, comprised of the Mazda3 small car and CX-7 crossover, were tied down at severe angles.

Mazda had previously told us it would inspect all the vehicles and sell most as used with full disclosure, considering that many showed little or no signs of damage. Regardless, Mazda reconsidered and the announcement that the entire shipment would be scrapped came today from Jim O'Sullivan, Mazda North America's President and CEO.

The decision not to sell any of the vehicles that were aboard the Cougar Ace must have been difficult to make, considering that we estimate the hull of the ship contained over $103 million worth of vehicles (60 percent of the vehicles on board were the more expensive CX-7, so we assumed a conservate per unit average MSRP of $22,000). Not that we're criticizing Mazda for scrapping the entire shipment, but the destruction of 4,703 vehicles, at least some if not most of which are salveagable, seems like a waste.

We're sure there are plenty of non-profit organizations and charities that would be grateful to take these vehicles off of Mazda's hands.
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By netchicken: posted on 16-12-2006