🚨MSC Michigan VII has been shifted from the anchorage to pierside in Charleston for repair and investigation.🚨 I will be doing a longer video on this, once we get some more info. Just a quick note, there was an option to cut fuel to the engine, but then you have the issue that Dali experienced. It was decided to maneuver the ship at that speed and get out of the harbor.

The port pilot has one hell of a story to tell. Please do an interview with him!

Can't decide which is more terrifying... all the lights go out and nothing works... or... you have power but the throttle is stuck wide open... Big kudos to the Capt. and crew for keeping in the lane while they did a "speed run" of the river.

I have steered many large vessels in and out of port. It is much easier to steer a fast-moving ship than a slow-moving one. We came in slow mainly to keep our wake down and avoid damage to small vessels.

Well at that speed at least they had good rudder authority.

Was sailing in Puget Sound back in the 80's when a large cargo ship came down the Sound going flat out. My dad wanted to get close to the ship, so I pointed the bow towards the ship. The wake was so deep that we lost all wind in the bottom. Our 24 foot boat surfed at least two lengths going down the wave. Found out later that several boats had been capsized by the wake. Apparently the captain faced penalties for being late which were worse than the ones the Coast Guard would impose.

I was in Charleston harbor yesterday during this incident. The coast guard sped ahead of the ship and warned all the boats in the area what was going on. The tour boat for fort Sumter cast off lines and got away from the dock. All the boats fishing along the jetties were warned as well. The beach at Sullivans island was cleared as it's shore is fairly close to the channel and normally doesn't have waves.. The ship made a big wake of course as it made its way out of port. We were near the ship as it transitioned to the fort Sumter range (last turn to leave port). The pilot and captain made the right choice to steam out of port at higher speed. He had good steerage at that speed and likely figured it was too risky to try to shut down the engine until safely past the jetties.

Hats off to the crew successfully navigating something with that little room for error at ~3x the usual speed.

I hope Sandra Bullock is still cute enough for them to make to make "Speed 3 - Container Calamity !"...😅

Runaway diesel engines are spooky! Late 90's i was building log homes at a large company. The crew i was with experienced that with a medium sized Grove crane. The engine went beyond redline, everyone flew of the house and hid behind something. After a couple minutes the foreman got the balls to run up to it, jump inside and hit emergency fuel shuttoff. It was crazy loud, hell of scary.

Oh man, I feel for the pilot. Having to maneuver a ship at high speed through inland Chanels when you are used to slow speeds. GREAT JOB.

A lot of people in the comments are suggesting they should have just cut fuel or whatever to shut it down. Have we already forgotten what happened the last time a big ship went adrift in a river? Shutting it down means giving up control at 15 knots on a narrow river with obstructions like bridges and traffic. If they did that and dropped anchors would they come to a stop safely? Have you had your daily shot of hopium?

Diesel engines (at least smaller ones) can easily get stuck at full power if the wrong part breaks. When that happens the only way to get them to stop is to fully block the air inlet or find some way to cut off the fuel (which can be hard because the normal way is likely what broke). I could easily see a ship pilot being told "your choices are full power or zilch; when do you want to cut the engine?"

Once had a thermometer body fall down behind the Main Engine governor and jam the fuel racks open, couldn't stop the engine even at the local controls. That was arriving at port though, after a long sea voyage. Took a while to find...

These ships are ridiculously big. Instead of making them even bigger they should rethink these things. And we should reduce the amount of stuff we buy from distant locations, trim down the supply chains and make more at home. Current supply chain situation, though we've gotten used to it, is actually crazy. Especially the fact that we get some food, even perishable food (!) from halfway around the world. That is insane.

Could you do a video explaining how the throttle on a ship like this could get stuck? Fascinating story, glad everything worked out ok in the end.

This is why ships stop about four hours before entering port, to make sure they will.

Nothing to see here. Just another shipping mishap.

Thanks to the people steering that ship safely to open water.

Charleston has two tugs standing off both sides of the Ravenel Bridge just in case a ship loses propulsion enough to be a drifter. The bridge is also built on 2 acre pylons that are built to absorb 20 million pounds of force AND there is dredging spoil shot off the sides of the seaward bridge approach that would either stop most any ship or make it push mud enough to go verrrrry slow before contacting one of those pylons. But...yeah, technically this is the largest deepwater port on the East Coast AND a hub for top secret submarines. My conjecture post-Maryland was that we will see every major port assign tugs to stand off in similar fashion OR even escort large ships completely in and out of particularly infrastructure-y segments. I think I did slightly better than my thoughts of "lets not fuck that up again.." reaction to the Ever Given's terrific job in the Suez, eh?

I know that harbor well and it was very smart to close traffic on the bridge. Doesn't really show it on the video but there are 2 hard (near) 90's right before the bridge. Couple hours after low tide which is also a factor for that river.

I’m going to call a Turbocharger Failure on this one. The turbo bearings are lubricated with engine oil pressure, and if a seal fails, that oil gets sucked into the combustion chambers and it becomes a runaway. Happens on trucks also.

I'm going to channel my curmudgeonly ChEng persona (which I earned) and say - "This was far less of a problem when the throttles were in the engine control room". Not actually helpful, but I just couldn't hold it in. Kudos for avoiding disaster.

Kudos to the pilot and ship's company. Pilotage at that speed on ship so large requires great skill and professionalism. BZ

To quote Scotty…”I’m givin’ her all she’s got capt’n, she ain’t got no more… “

Keanu and sandra weren't onboard were they?

Looks lessons learned at Francis Scott Key paying dividends, shutting down the bridge was prudent.

My other unexpected favorite channel is "What's Going on With Chicken Farms?"

Seems the Crew handled that very well. But sorry for the small boaters who got injured.

I would imagine that the pilot didn't have a chance to get off the ship for a while. Seems like the pilot and whoever was at the helm did a really good job of steering the ship and preventing any accidents

Definite kudos to the pilot ... when I was riding for pilotage decades ago in S.Fran, I was observing aboard a traditional steam "stick ship" (yard n' stay) making Oakland Middle Harbor (cross current - aggressive approach). Capt. Fred Anderson was the pilot (Red Stack). The ship stuck 1/2 ahead with the piers and shore looming ahead ... the Master started whining "what will we do, what will we do:" ... Freddy ... always the cool professional ... simply glanced over at him and replied "Pick something cheap Captain" ... Ha. (The engineers pulled safeties to dump steam off the turbines, Freddy managed to slow the ship and lay out 5 shots of chain on the starboard anchor .... and the ship swung around with the port quarter resting on the end of Pier 4). Seriously, one can't get away with that anymore with massive ships calling at traditional ports and waterways. Smaller crews, appreciated maintenance (perhaps), and not much room to recover from "Murphy's law" ...

Looking at the picture of the bridge base, there's maybe 50 feet between the water and the columns. A ship that heavy going 15 knots or miles per hour is not going to slow down much before the overhanging bow and the bulb bow will start pushing over another bridge. That gravel pile may stop a rouge yacht but not a real ship. And the wake surfers are like, aw man, we missed it.

Ravenel Bridge islands are one acre above water flared to 3 acres on the riverbed. I had the joy of watching the building and unbuilding process, 20 years ago, before YT through a photo blog posted by a bridge engineer. I attended the ribbon cutting and have a chunk of the Grace Bridge as a paperweight. ❤

Sometimes I read the video titles and "What's going on with shipping" turns into a more rhetorical sounding, "WHAT is GOING ON with SHIPPING?!"

At this point you need to change your channel name to what in the hell is going on in shipping.

That had to be exciting. Glad they could keep it centered. Thanks for the report' professor.

Bravo Zulu to the pilot on board. Imagine the skill required to not only not panic when the throttle stuck open, but to successfully navigate a container ship that size down the river at 15 knots with no throttle control at all.

Being a seafaring engineer for thirty years it's difficult to see how this could have happened. Taking it off bridge control there would be a number of opportunities by bleeding the hydraulic control unit and taking over manually. Surely then they could control the fuel pumps. It actually happened on departure first movement on a ship I was on. The shuttle in the actuator became stuck because of varnish caused by oxidation and heat. We knew what to do. When the tugs are in place and standby rings there is always a little apprehension the engine would start and run for weeks without a stop.

Stuck throttle...just put your toe up under it, NO PROBLEM. Thanks Sal and I need one of those shirts! Glenn

Thanks, Professor.!! Kudos to the Pilot.!! He deserves a Medal, and a Big pay raise.!! Modern Technology is really Wonderful until it stops working.!!😮😮😮 I have been by Campbell University too many times to count on the way to the beach. I live NW of the school. Love your channel, and your knowledge of Maritimes inner workings.! Stay Safe, and hope you have a great time.!! PEACE.!!!🥇😊😊😊❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

These "random accidents" in major ports remind me of all the "random fires" happening in food production facilities over the past two years.

Thank you. Sal. Glad no deaths.

Are ships hitting (or almost hitting) bridges more often or are these events just getting more coverage? Either way, it's a great time to be subscribed to the best channel for What's Going On With Shipping! Thanks, Sal.!

I go kayaking in that area regularly. It's always a spooky feeling sharing the rivers or harbor with cargo ships, especially in the fog

I'm curious what kind of radio call they put out. Was it PANPAN, MAYDAY, or a Duke Boys Yee-Haw!

I have a hunch that shipping really should not be this exciting.

That's fast enough to waterski. Maybe the floor mat got stuck under the gas pedal.

Thank you for posting this update. Lucky pilot great pilot . The ship's crew needs recognition honored for professional conduct during a emergency

Damn Sal. My first ship was in Charleston. I know that sea & anchor detail very well and wouldn't want to do it at 15kts.

I guess they should list ass on their manifest because they were hauling ass out of Charleston haha

Thanks Sal - and well, if this series of incidents with container vessels continues, you might wanna think of opening 2nd channel 😉: “What’s going *wrong* with shipping?” I can only imagine how captain, crew and pilots must have felt facing MV Dali scenario the other way round - for sure they also had that in mind; and who knows, perhaps that also added to their decision to stay on speed while still having full rudder control at least … That first long turn going port after leaving Charleston harbour might also have helped to gain “practice” when approaching next curves along the way at this speed.

I didn't know Boeing made ships!

Moored DSI, we parted a CT wire and 2 mooring lines as she passed. No injuries.

I think the captain just said the throttles were stuck to stay out of trouble. The tip off was the guy being towed on the ski behind the ship.

A great crew doing a great job to safely manoeuvre that vessel.

Wild. I live in Charleston, but i wasn't near the Ravenel bridge today. Still, the traffic was terrible. Glad that things turned out okay, and the two people hit by the wake will be all right. That had to be scary.

I'm amazed that a huge fully loaded ship with all that weight could reach or exceed displacement speeds like that.

This is the "fly by wire" control system which is all the fashion now, as in modern cars. I sailed for 15 years on steam turbine ships with engineers controlling the main engines during "standby" when manoeuvring in rivers and harbours and confined areas.

Only just now seeing the Caddyshack reference in the thumbnail 😆

Thanks, Sal! I can only how scary that must have been for the engineers below deck!

Almost 20 mph! With all that mass. What a handful for the pilot.

The bridge also has underwater berms leading up to the islands you see to either deflect or slow.

Thank You Sir...

How many mariners have had the nightmare of their ship racing along at top speed along an ever narrowing waterway that goes from a river, to a stream, to a creek, and all eventually going down a dry, steep-grade hill.? Meanwhile, you have the wheel in your hand and shouting to the Captain that you got a handle on it.

I was here in Mt. Pleasant SC (Not Charleston) as the bridge was closed. Glad to hear it was not intentional. Thank you for the update sir.

"Hey, you scratched my anchor!"

Good reporting on that story! I used to live down there and know the area well. I can just picture it in my mind from your description. Thank you!

Gigantic diesel in runaway - scary in the engine room. I would love to see the video from the bridge (or bow) as they snaked out the river. Pay per view, a wild ride. I'll bet the crew were donning life jackets.

It seems bizarre that the engineers could not stop the engine by denying it fuel or air . Poor performance and preparedness if you ask me…I had a similar situation with a run away. Scary stuff, luckily it ended okay for me!

Great job by the captain steering the ship safely and giving a fast warning to everyone.

Darn that is scary, maybe the floormat made the accelerator stick (i.e. Toyota)

Loved the judge smales ref!

Thanks Sal

l had the same experience on a similar size vessel fitted with a RTA Sulzer engine.The fault was in a wiring harness on a fuel rack feed back potentiometer which failed and subsequently put the RPM to full ahead.Changes over to emergency mode and took back control of the machinery.

those damn microsoft updates will do it every time.

Scarey and dangerous! Thanks for your quick reporting. It will be interesting to know what happened. So glad it did not damage the bridge or other ships. Stay safe.

Good update while you were on the road

Great update , thanks 🫡

I look forward to seeing Chief Makoi's take on this! Bravo Zulu to the pilot and bridge crew! By the way, what's with the infestation of conspiracy nutters? This used to be a well informed and rational channel!

I walked the Ravenel Bridge last year. Beautiful structure.

The screenshot from Caddyshack! LOL!

"you have the bridge No1, I'm going to my cabin to change my underwear"

it seems to me that the engine room should be able to override the throttle

Time to buy stock in tug operators. At this rate, they are going to require tugs transiting under all bridges.

That must have been some serious squat!

We know what this is.. they were fortunate to have a maneuverable body of water.

I had a Plymouth Acclaim that liked to do this. Pretty freaky.

Oh look! They put the oil control rings upside down on the pistons. That is just nuts, Sal!

Have a good event, thanks for the video.

After the ship anchors in the Atlantic, Helmsman looks at the First Mate, "Told ya I could! You owe me $10!"

Hey! you scratched my anchor!!!

Fast and Furious Charleston edition

In April 2020 the SM Mumbai came up the Columbia River at 15 knots and it damaged boats and the docks at the Port of Kalama with its wake.

I know what happened. No need to involve the Coast Guard. The helmsman did not install the rug properly, and the rug got wedged into the throttle. Same thing happened with Toyotas.

My first thought: 'What is going on with shipping?' second thought: 'Container ship thinks it is a speed boat ' . Glad nobody was seriously hurt.

Crikey thank the gods disaster was gotten under control ,that must have been one scary ride for all involved

Typical MSC bag of crap! Most are running with rust with incompetent crews all smiling at each other wondering what to do next!

15 knots is battle speed for 1890s pre-dreadnoughts. Though with them it would involve a lot of vibrating.

Would like to have met up in Chicago. Even at 79 yo, I still sail and travel inland. Hope you have a great visit. I do miss Houston and Raleigh but central Illinois is fun too. ❤❤❤

The last installment of the "Speed" franchise is kind of a let down 😅 But yeah, one can imagine everyone onboard and on land going ohgodnotagainnotagainnotagain until they were clear.