Seacor Power accident

What is known as of now.

The Seacor Power was enroute 8 NM off Louisiana port Fourchon in US offshore sector with 19 crew members and/ or contractors on board. The bizzare thing, however, that she was underway during the stormy weather with 60 to 80 kts winds. Weather forecast is not different in any location around the globe nowadays, there are exceptions at times, of course. The old mathematical model developed in 1960s is in use for the weather predictions and the reality may be way too different in some parts of the world. None-the-less, in the offshore sector and in the lift boats operation the wether forecast is a must have piece of information.

Barge master's decision for the upcoming voyage is always based on the incoming weather information, limitations of the unit in accordance with the Barge Operations Manual. I'd rather say that the weather is a dominant factor in go or no go for the underway. 'Was it taken in to account?' - will be a hard question to answer as, sadly, the Master was claimed by the sea.

It is both visual and confirmed by officials that the Port leg of a capsized unit is retracted slightly by 5 feet. As for me it does not reveal much. Yes, on the units as such, the leg lowering speed is around 6 ft/min.

So, with the speed of 6 ft/min for the legs lowering, is does take a minute to get to 5 ft retracted leg. The state of other legs is unknown or undisclosed at this time. It may have been the case that the legs were not housed properly though.

The stability factor.

It is quite clear that the stability of the unit was compromised. With the legs not being retracted for the ocean survival mode the capsizing of the barge, likely, did not take too long with the prevailing weather conditions. As we know, it takes a lever of a certain force to reach to a critical angle of the JackUp barge trim/ list, however, the quick descending curve on the stability graph at its ending gets it to a point of very quick capsizing. Which happened in this particular case. It took time in the Master's decision making for the survival, tragically, she capsized in the blink of an eye.

It is quite obvious that the weather played a role in this fatal accident.

Many 'why' questions are hanging in the air. The investigation shall answer those, I trust. Will it help to the relatives of those deceased, I doubt.

What it should bring us to is a 'lesson learnt' factor in accidents prevention studies.

My sincere sympathies to those families hoping for a miracle as the search goes on by the Seacor and deepest condolences to the families of the lost ones.

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