Several ships over the past few years have experienced blackouts or engine failures at or near ports around the world. One culprit: contaminated fuel. www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/contaminated-fuel-is-a-hard-to-fix-problem-in-ocean-shipping-10ccbbad via @WSJ

I’m in the fuel ⛽️ industry There has been a problem with diesel especially winter fuels coating filter media and shutting down the flow. This has been going on for several years. No one has an answer except keep changing filters once or twice a week! I’m sure they know what the cause is but don’t want to own up to it, because you know, money! 💵

Back in the 1980's, we had issues with fuel injectors and stuck piston rings. It was discovered the marine diesel oil was too dry for our engines. The solution was to add a gallon of lube oil to the day tank every time it was filled.

Amazing how few serious shipping accidents there are when you consider how much of it has been going on around us for so many years! *Good work folks, thanks!*

15 years ago, I made a trip to the west coast of Florida, and then on to San Antonio TX, for a couple of job interviews. I was driving a 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD - one of the few thousand that Chrysler sold in 2005 and 2006 with a high pressure common rail diesel engine. I stopped and tanked up on diesel before starting the trek from Florida to Texas. An hour or so later, the engine started running like crap, very noisy, noticeable loss of power, even misfiring on occasion. Having experienced getting a bad batch of fuel and clogged fuel filters once before, I immediately suspected that to be the case, and pulled over at a rest area to troubleshoot the problem. When I pulled off the fuel filters and drained the contents into a bucket, there were literally dead insects trapped inside them. Later when talking to other diesel owners I knew, a couple of them said they'd ran into this issue before - that the root cause was, that particular service station most likely had their storage tank air vents in an unprotected location, and didn't have any type of screens over the vents to prevent the entry of insects or other contaminants. The point being, fuel can become contaminated at any point along the supply chain, before it actually gets pumped into the engine itself, regardless of all the testing that's done.

Tugs and Harbor Pilots just doing their jobs. +Excellent response by others.

On May 31st, 1973, the Sea Witch and Esso Brussels collided near the Verrazano and drifted beneath as they burned. 15 men died and the captain of the Sea Witch suffered a fatal heart attack during the incident. The Coast Guard and FDNY were heroic in saving the majority of the seamen.

Thank you to the mariners, fuelers, fuel testing experts and ship inspectors, tug operators and crew, bridge repair people, mechanics, I don't know WHO ALL! who keep our civilization running and safe. I never thought before how important these things really are.

This year I saw a barge break free of its tug boat and it was headed for the Esplande at Albany Street, NYC. The tug put on the engines and intercepted it before it made contact with the Esplande walkway. The black smoke pouring out of the tug is what caught my eye. There was crew on the tug who were able to reattach ropes to the barge. No harm, no foul!

Two types of fuel for use outside the environmental control area. That like having a peeing section in a swimming pool .

Sal, I know absolutely nothing about the maritime shipping industry, however you explain perfectly to us land-lovers. Keep informing us so those who are interested may be informed. You need a Ships Fog horn sound at the end of your video's. Just a thought. 😏

In 1980 our boat came off the quay in New Orleans. The ship swung round to catch the current (Missisppi) but the main engine wouldn't start, We were drifting down on a very big bridge pillar. Finally after many tries it started. Cose. It was the MV Birchbank. Thhis sort of thing happens all over the world and all the time.

Hi!!! About the Dally. I worked 37 years as a Marine Engineer Officer finishing my career as Chief Engineer. Many years ago, we had a terrible problem on a ship. Suddenly and without notice we had black outs. We purged the injectors of the generators engines and they come again into life. We couldnt find the cause. We checked everything to no avail. The fuel system had a deaeration tank and from that tank the fuel went to the generators. Finally we discovered the cause. The ship had around 10 years. The fuel pipe that went to the deaeration tank from the service tanks was horizontal and maybe around 15 mts long. It happened to be that during the 10 years, sludge deposited inside the pipe reducing its diameter. So when the load on the engine increased, the fuel pipe was unable to supply enough amount of MDO to the deaeration tank. The level inside started to decrease until air was sucked into the generators pumps and stopped them. During the running and purging of the generators fuel systems, the level increased and the problem was solved until the next extra load. We dismounted the pipe, cleaned it and the problem was solved for good. Who could imagine it since that service tanks were filled with purificators and repurified continuosly... Maybe something like this happened to the Dally... Greetings from Argentina!!

In regards to some comments I keep seeing… just because ships losing power is uncommon but not rare, doesn’t mean it’s ok. Just because the public is now aware of the issue due to the Baltimore disaster, doesn’t mean it’s not a problem that needs to be addressed. This should be checked into.

I remember some years back, I had a fuel contamination issue in my work truck. it took drawing a sample, and holding it undisturbed for something like 36 hours, before the contaminant became observable.

I don’t understand that testing procedure. When I was hauling crude oil years ago, we had to sample the tanks before pumping. One sample from the top, and another from the bottom. Get temperature readings, then fill a flask halfway with each sample. Dissolve it with solvent, then put it in a heated centrifuge for several minutes. Then, you can tell how contaminated the oil actually is. Without that test, a lot of times the oil would look clear, and like honey (sweet crude, not Texas black). You’d never know how dirty the fuel actually is, without the proper testing.

I was quite surprised about problems with fuel filters being clogged. Have things changed since my seagoing days? All fuel was 100% purified on board before use with Alfa-Laval centrifugal purifiers that would remove any water contamination plus residual solids. We never had any engine failure due to fuel problems. Other problems, yes, but not fuel quality. I wonder if the use of low sulphur fuel has resulted in issues? Our engine rooms were always manned as long as required, so changeover to bunker oil was not rushed.

If I remember correctly some of the fuel out of San Pedro had sand and debris in the HFO. I have changed fuel strainers and there was lots of yuck in the strainer. Both steam and diesel ships burn a heavy fuel oil ( bunkers ) HFO that’s a step or two above asphalt.

From Staten Island here. We make sure there are tugs and pilot boats with all container ships all ships to be honest.

Thanks Sal for another timely update on shipping events.

I have steered a large Navy ship into and out of NY and Norfolk and Charleston in the early 70s. I never realized how my life depended upon the Engineers, Thanks guys. Sorry it took so long.

Thanks sal, for the quick updating of recent events. Keep it up 🙏🙏🙏

I've heard many anecdotal stories of outages caused by fuel change-over. Sometimes it's bad fuel, sometimes it old fuel that had sludge in the bottom of the tank that clogged the filters and/or jets. Sometimes it had to do with changing the jets. I'm told this is why there have been so many issues/outages/loss of propulsion incidents near shore since IMO 2000.

the big difference here is, the margine of error is SIGNFIFICANTLY higher for ships going under that NY Bridge then the Bay Bridge in Baltimore. you can clearly see the shipping lane is like a full 1000 feet away from the span and assuming the ship didn't veer ridiculously off course, had little to no chance of hitting the span. One of the biggest issues with the Bay Bridge in Baltimore was just how little margin of error there was between the correct shipping lane and hitting the support; barely 100 feet from what I read.

I had an experience in the Kills. I was the Chief Mate on a SeaLand containership outbound from the terminals in NJ. It was night and pouring rain and suddenly the foremast light went out. the secondary also went out. I am on the bridge with the Master and Pilot. The bosun and electrician and AB are on the bow standing by the anchors. I informed the Master and Pilot of the problem and said I would have to leave the bridge and replace the bad bulbs myself. It was a little bit scary climbing up the foremast in the pouring rain and then replacing the bulbs, but it had to be done and I was the only one available. I had the foremast light working by the time we hit the lower bay. And NO I was never on a ship that lost power.

The Verrazzano Narrows Bridge has rocks surrounding the bases of the towers that extend 60 ft out from the concrete base. In this case the shipping channel is far from the tower bases but would they be sufficient to bring a large container vessel (Dali) to a stop before damage was done to the base? These rock barriers were put in place when ships were a lot smaller than they are now.

8:30 I've had a strong suspicion about this for awhile. After all, it was in the middle of the night, who was around to see their exhaust? What is infathomable to me is how the authorities waited 2+ days to board the boat, giving the crew plenty of time to purge the lines and appear clean. Something stinks...

The very first thing I said when I saw the first video was "Fuel problem" and looked up refineries in the region to see if any were near the loading dock. Inconclusive. This whole concept of burning "cleaner" fuel while in US waters and switching to the cheapest, but more problematic, alternative ASAP really does sound like Occam's Razor in action. Something about this entire tragedy is finally making sense.

Can we assume, given that there are tens of thousands of ships, that at least one loses power fairly frequently and we're only paying attention now because of the unfortunate bridge disaster?

Quick question…are these ships made my Boeing? 😂😂. Anyways Great analysis as always.

I had exported autos from the US in the 1990's. Then, containers had a ''Bunker'' fee added because #3 Diesel had to be used in lieu of ''Bunker C'' to lower pollution...sulfur. The fee was about USD300 per container.

Still waiting for someone to explain/discuss the interview of the dockworker that said, in a news interview, the Dali was having serious electrical problems just prior to departing

👏 Sal is the only knowledgeable individual who can produce great informative piece out of Motel 6 🥰

It happens more often than you would think for a variety of reasons... bad fuel engine/generator failure fuel pump failures etc luckily the ships recover and get their power back almost all the time

In the 90's I sold a nice clean hydrocarbon material (mixed hexanes) to a company that cleaned out bilges. That clean out process produced a slop material that was dewatered, filtered and became MDO if it met spec. Going forward it will be interesting to hearing the story on the as found condition of the ships tanks and fuel system.

I recall in the 70's when supertankers began to be constructed, the concern around the fact that these very large ships had just one screw and one huge diesel engine. With just one engine if it fails you've got no engine, as opposed to steamships in the past that would have 2 or 3. There was also a lot of concern in the 70's regarding liberian ship registration, and the lower safety requirements that it engendered. That grift has since extended to Panama and other places. What was artfully hidden at the time was that liberian registration was actually us registration, the liberian registry was started by a us state dept employee, and all the registration work was actually done in NY, Liberia is just a post office box. So, in light of that kind of stuff, hard to specify or demand safer designs.

There might have been contamination already inside the Dali's tanks, and the addition of new fuel may have stirred up that residual contamination, holding it in suspension, and causing issues with the main diesel and/or the backup diesels. Its not enough to test the fuel before it goes into the ship's tanks. Tests also have to be run on the fuel, once its in the ship's tanks. When I ran a service station, we did these tests every week, and also just after a fuel delivery, for both gasoline and diesel tanks.

I used to boat / fish in that whole area and I can tell you the amount of large vessel traffic was constant. Also on a side note, a friend went to go for his Pilot Masters license and told me ( *edit - back in the early 90's ) that in the test they would give a blank piece of paper ( many feet square ) and one would have to draw my memory the whole outer and inner NY harbor with every rock, sunken wreck and sandbar as of that day of the test. Rather daunting. The Pilot jobs would often go from Father to Son, nepotism at it's finest.

I work on a harbor tug in a very busy port. Ships have pretty major problems all the time. Holds are common.

As a land locked "sailor" who has no clue about shipping, I do appreciate your channel already for quite some time. Its getting truly interesting now and I am learning a lot of interesting stuff. Thanks... it keeps at least my head in the game! 💃

imagine your ship loses power, you effect repairs and leave the area safely.... *MAKES WORLD NEWS*

also time for shipping companies to pay the full cost of accidents not the taxpayer

As always, Dr. Sal Mercogliano - the trusted word on shipping related activities without the talking head opinion, hype and conjecture found on MSM! This incident could easily create a storm of conspiracy (not that there couldn't be one...) and hysteria around recent container shipping incidents.

great info as usual....So much more than what's available in the "media". BTW Sal, when we were homeschooling and joined a co-op of other liked-minded folk, our job was to set up field trips for the group. A friend recommended we join the Navy League because they took frequent trips and had a special relationship with the Navy. We were welcomed warmly by the local chapter. 40 kids plus adults haha. Took a tiger cruise on USS Stethem during Seafair and toured Ohio and Georgia while they were in port. Also got to see TRITRAFAC, and other military facilities around the Northwest, including demos of Coast Guard SAR and a C-17 flight simulator at JBLM. Huzzah to the Navy League.

It takes some time for the fuel change over to take place. So it wouldn't be too unusual to shortly after leaving the dock to start the changeover. So that once the ship is in open water that the changeover is complete. Also it would highly unusual for the engine room not to be fully manned while leaving the dock. But remember this ship only has 21 employees. This includes the bridge crew deck handlers cooks etc. Not a large crew. The fuel issue doesn't explain loss of both headway power and electricity. The ship was having electric power issues when at the dock..

Thanks for the update and good luck with your conference!

Never saw that coming, again! I see a need for more tugboats.

A long haul truck driver I know had a problem with his diesel fuel in his truck a couple years ago.He kept changing filters like every two to three days, then it got worse. He found that he had algae growing in the tanks from the condensation moisture in the tank. Emptied the tanks, steam cleaned them and started using an algaecide and has not had any problems since. Do ships test for moisture in the tanks? When we bought the house we live in 31+ years ago, it was heated by diesel #1 & #2 or a blend depending on the time of year and temperature. one thing the supplier checked for was moisture in the tank. Furnace and tank now part of the shop. Just brainstorming an idea. With all the suppliers of fuel in the world to the jobber, it would seem that it would be easy to get a bad batch of fuel and once that fuel goes from one person to another and to the ship, then responsibility for the cleanliness of the fuel becomes blurred. On a side note. When people cut corners in industry and other places, break established guidelines then it creates more regulations and rules. If ships are fudging on when they switch fuels to save money, quite possibly it may someday come to a point where they are required to have a second person on board besides the pilot to monitor the engineering crew and use of fuels. If power blackout was an issue found to be fuel related on the Dali, if the crew was trying a fuel switch, they will find that the cost of the accident will far exceed any savings in switching from a higher cost fuel to a cheaper fuel. If a ship is running great after leaving dock then it will pay dividends to stay running on current fuel and settings until in a wider channel, a berthing/anchor area or open water. Will there be more rules by ports for having tug tows/escorts until out of the port areas to open sea? Time and the NTSB findings will tell.

Thank you!

Gotta check those water separators and Raycor filters. Thanks Sal

Thanks! I always come to your site for shipping information. You do it just right.

THANKS: Prayers for Wisdom and discretion for your panel

The “black-boxes” on all ships should be required to record when and where they use that filthy High Sulphur fuel. The entire shipping industry is still in the “Wild-West” when they reach International Waters. (Sanctioned Russian oil is being transferred into “neutral”tankers….smuggled… on the high seas RIGHT NOW.)

Two types of fuel for use outside the environmental control area. That like having a peeing section in a swimming pool

Years ago I was reading about biodiesel for cars. I remember the articles saying how biodiesel was a cleaner fuel but people that switched would often have fuel filter clogs. The biodiesel would clean the inside of the tanks and the sludge and dirt in the tank would end up in the filters. I wonder if something similar is happening here.

Appreciate the updates ! This is all so interesting

It's possible for fuel to become contaminated on the ship, though it is pretty rare. Fuel temperature is maintained in service and storage tanks by steam heating coils. A leak in a steam coil would cause condensate to accumulate at the bottom of a fuel tank and possible enter the fuel oil service system. It would also cause oil to collect in the boiler feed system and should be caught fairly quickly though.

Love the lamp

Wow! I leave for vacation for a week and youve got tons of new videos to catch up on. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the report Sal.

I'm wondering if there isn't pressure to switch fuel due to the price difference. You'd think the more refined the fuel the more expensive it is. Could there be pressure from the bean counters to switch over too early ? How do they filter their fuel ? I'm wondering if better filters would help or if the additives in the cleaner fuel upsets the consistency of the dirtier fuel....... Maybe a good question for your engineer friends on another joint episode.

Thx Sal for your excellent insight on maritime shipping.

Thank you for your information about the fuels used by container ships. I learned a lot.

You are a stats guy. Would love to see your dive into how many ships lose power, lose controls or other anomalies each year and maybe some causes or trends you might see happening… would be interesting to see if this is unusual or is happening more than most of us know…

Thank you for telling the real story and not diving into wild conspiracy theories.

Thank you for making these videos. So informative and interesting!!!

Thank you very much for sharing your time and work Sal, I learn something new each time I catch up with you, peace

The administration wants electric ships! 😂😂😂😂

Maybe tug escorts should be standard throughout the US?

Thank you.

Super Thanks, Sal!

Does anyone track the causes for ships loosing power like this? Do they produce charts and graphs?

Shocking! A boat breaks down during a crucial maneuver? You don't say... who would have guessed. Boats only fail at the worst times, never in port and never during calm weather, it a law of the Sea.

The most striking thing about this video is how the "test" is done.

I always knew you would have a big channel.. I wish you all the best

Thank you for the piece. Just wondering, seems like the structure wise, safety wise, propulsion wise, not much has changed for last 30 years.

Sounds like regulations need to be updated to eliminate those fuel issues.

Thanks for the informative update.

Sal's my guy whenever modern transport shipping info is needed.

Quick question. With no knowledge of commercial shipping, I was surprised to learn that some big ships like the Dali have a single screw. I was wondering if that design poses a safety problem in shipping in general - meaning how frequently do large single screw ships encounter damage to a propeller or shaft that results in major issues? I know this had nothing to do with the Baltimore incident, just wondering in general. Is the single screw design a cost versus risk situation? I suppose just from an economic point of view, you can't have redundancies in every system. Thanks! Have really enjoyed your channel since learning about it post Baltimore incident

Thanks for the update, Sal! Think any of these high-publicity incidents will have an effect (knee-jerk or justified; right or wrong) on the future of ship design--in terms of redundancy requirements etc?

Independant emergency backup power sources? I know Navy vessels have multiple redundancy options. I'm sure backups exist. If not I'd be amazed.

The fuel switch over looks like probable cause, should be an easy fix. Don't switch fuel till away from bridges !

If this event had occurred a few minutes earlier, possibly another bridge would have gone down. These bridges were built before these huge ships existed and were not designed for that heavy of an impact. So my question is - who approved the access of these huge ships to those ports knowing that they had to pass under bridges that were not designed to handle the impact? Seems to me that someone had to approve it, and seems to me that the approval process isn't working properly.

Thank you, Sal. I see you are in my neck of the woods. The NY-NJ incident is near the site of my undergraduate days in NJ on the Hudson River. Also I had done 2 oceanographic research cruises the length of the East River in 1980 & 1982. Brings back memories.

You're very interesting and easy to listen to. I'm an old gal who used to sail around the inner harbor and under the Key bridge back in the 90's. The racing boat I crewed on got blasted more than once by the big ships as we got too close to the channel !. I live in NC now and retired so this saga of the Dali captured my attention. Do you think Baltimore will consider requiring tugs for every ship leaving the Patapsco from now on?

I'm wondering if it would be more practical today to try and do something like NSS Savannah, but designed as a transoceanic barge hauler. With increasing pressure on the shipping industry for the at-sea pollution impacts, and the economies of scale that nuclear power offers, it seems like that niche might have a chance to reopen.

3:57 How about upgrading the protective mechanisms surrounding bridges. Until then place protective tugs.

Lean fuel will dry out the seals on the feul pumps. And bingo. They stop. Maybe a bit simplistic. But we have had so much problems with this issue

Hello thank for being here again to explain for everyone plus land lubbers! Elsebeth from Denmark!

My favorite news show. Bab El-Mandeb 🍺

It’s clear to me that problems are being caused by companies maximising profits by reducing regular maintenance.

Good brief, Sal. Thanks.

This incident reminds me of something that happened a few decades ago (I don't recall the year let alone the date) when the APL China lost power during a typhoon outbound from Japan heading to Seattle. My wife was then employed by the operations subsidiary of APL and became involved even before the APL China arrived at Terminal 5 in the Port of Seattle. It was quite a mess having lost a number of containers (a few hundred, maybe more) and with many of those still aboard that were not lost but had broken loose plus many that had also been damaged so that the contents were exposed and spilled out on the decks.

What about the Kevin McCallister tug???

Ships losing propulsion at sea, doors coming off of planes in fight, freight trains derailing at an alarming rate, quality craftsmanship has gone down the crapper.

Professional Sal I again learn more from you thank you

solid info, thanks for clear concise layout of data.

I'll tell you what's going on: when you have media that focus on damage to the bridge and salvage and repair instead of what caused the accident; and when you have an NTSB that tells us it will take up to two years for them to determine the cause; and when you have authorities that do not hold the Captain of such a ship as a material witness to a plausible crime of criminal negligence .... you get more of the same.

Off the starting block a little slow. This happened last Friday. That being said you r still ahead of a lot of other sites