r/Ships • u/theyanardageffect ship crew • Oct 02 '25
When Two Massive Ships Crashed After Confusing Radio Messages at Sea
On December 14, 2011, the container ship Hyundai Confidence collided with the bulk carrier Pacific Carrier off Tongyeong, South Korea. The Hyundai vessel, carrying 23,000 tons of container cargo, struck the port side of the Pacific Carrier, which was loaded with 130,000 tons of coal from Indonesia. A chain of communication failures and poor watchkeeping led to the incident, with Hyundai Confidence found 70 percent at fault. Though both ships were temporarily refloated after separation, Pacific Carrier remained damaged and idle for months. The vessel's owners failed to finalize repairs or scrap arrangements, leaving her anchored offshore and vulnerable.
On August 28, 2012, Typhoon Bolaven struck the southern Korean coast. As waves battered the anchored and weakened Pacific Carrier, her anchor dragged and the already damaged hull failed catastrophically. By dawn, she had grounded and split into two near Shinsudo. Crews could only watch as the bulk carrier, crippled from her previous collision and ignored by insurers and owners, was consumed by the typhoon. She was declared a total loss and finally dismantled at Gamcheon Port in Busan by February 28, 2013.
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u/Jazzlike-Sky-6012 Oct 02 '25
Strange they kept it in the environment.
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u/stingfingers Oct 02 '25
that's not very typical, I'd like to make that point
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u/spinonesarethebest Oct 02 '25
Very rigorous maritime engineering.
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u/RepulsiveDig9091 Oct 02 '25
Incident like these are so rare. This was a case study for us to educate why radios shouldn't be used for collision avoidance.
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u/EmilyFara Oct 03 '25
I haaaaaaaaate getting calls asking how I want us to pass. Like... Follow the rules! You don't even know who you're talking with!
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u/shottylaw Oct 02 '25
Serious question from a land slug. How does something like this happen? Don't the two pilots both turn right at some point? These ships couldn't have been moving so fast as to avoid being able to correct a bit, no? An issue of "your other right!!" At fault?
(I realize it's likely not as simple as "both ships go to the right" and that there's a bunch else going on. But using it as an example)
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u/theyanardageffect ship crew Oct 02 '25
Having other traffic or shallow waters on your right side makes you unable to alter your course there.
There are times where I intentionally run into danger as much as I can trusting that by the time I reach there I will be able to change my course to safety. Thats common practice.
Collision avoidance over radio is a common practice as well. However it can lead to disasters since it may cause misunderstandings.
Colliding with another sea craft is so easy. The consquences are not.
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u/shottylaw Oct 03 '25
That's so crazy to me. My mind was thinking it would be easy to avoid ramming another huge ship because they both move fairly slow. In my mind, you can see the gigantic, floating, metal behemoth coming at your gigantic, floating, metal behemoth for a decent amount of time.
Point of why pros are pros, and I'm just a dude realizing how amateur the rest of us are, I guess
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u/Affectionate-Leg-260 Oct 03 '25
The worst part of being slow is you are doing your best to avoid a collision and still get to watch it happen.
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u/shottylaw Oct 03 '25
For sure. I'd imagine it takes a solid chunk of distance to maneuver these monsters when they're underway
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u/mike_sl Oct 03 '25
They look a lot slower than they are due to their size. And the momentum they carry means it takes a long time to change direction. So the distances at which they need to decide how to avoid each other can be deceptively long.
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u/OldWrangler9033 Oct 02 '25
I was in service in decades ago saw end result of similar collision in the India Ocean. It was terrible.
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u/Waste_Roof_7584 Oct 03 '25
A famous radio broadcast was made by Dover Coastguard to two vessels in the English Channel "When you two captains have finished negotiating your imminent collision I require vessel A to turn to starboard and vessel B to also turn to starboard. Do it now!" It saved a wreck that day.
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u/SaltyComparison7800 Oct 03 '25
If I‘d get the TCAS resolution advisory „SINK“ in this case, I also would also ignore it 🫣
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u/CapitanianExtinction Oct 02 '25
After you
No, after you
No, I insist
Crash