Rand Boats

[Guest Jon Paul]

As a wheelsman on the boats I was on we stayed fairly tight to the red buoys to keep the bow from getting caught in the strong current that deflects off of Point Edward diagonally across to the old Peerless dock.
The American Spirit has twin diesels twin screws was in ballast just
Imagine the Sydney Smith loaded, lacking good HP and in the dark of night swinging broadside to the Parker Evans to hit in '72

[Clair]

Ok, thank you for clearing that up. Somewhere I had heard that more officers were assuming the wheeling duties on some of the ore carriers.

[Guest]

While some things at ASC have changed since its purchase by Rand, there is no doubt on the SIU-crewed boats such as the Spirit that they continue to have wheelsmen.

[Clair]

Correct me if I am wrong, but that boat does not use professional helmsmen anymore. I think the navigational officers do their own wheeling of the vessel.

[guest]

Pay more attention to the word "Almost"

[Marc]

As shown on today’s news page, the American Spirit is back in the news again

https://youtu.be/YhancNZlYrY?si=wvZ-L62g0HNYfg7i

[Guest]

The Michipicoten nearly capsizes, the Manitowoc starts on fire loading, and the Victory has to be towed out of the locks. A red letter week for Rand shipping. No doubt their careful maintenance and upkeep of their fleets keeps it going so well.

For one, it didn't nearly capsize. Do you have insider information about the lack thereof of their maintenance and upkeep? If so, share it with us. And lest we forget, we're boatnerds on here that realize that many men are employed on those boats that have families to feed and do a great job at what they do.

I am on the boats and I have worked for this company in the past. Lest we forget many boatnerds work on the ships and don't like their industry getting a bad name from a bad company.

the Manitowoc didn't start on fire. You people need to get a job. You don't know what you're talking about.

[Guest]

This morning AIS shows it at Conneaut

[Mn bob]

What happened with the American spirit? They said it made the dock at conneaut but is not showing up on ais now.

[Mn bob]

The winds played a big part in the American spirit missing the turn heading out of the Duluth harbor several years ago and they ran aground there. I don’t think rand owned the ship then though.

[Guest]

That must be the reason they are not making the dock to unload. They have been at a bid for a day now

Strong winds are the likely reason they are anchored. But I do believe the SE Shoal Traffic buoy is snagged on to the ship.

[Mn bob]

That must be the reason they are not making the dock to unload. They have been at a bid for a day now

[GreatLaker]

And now American Spirit has run over the SE Shoal traffic buoy on Lake Erie.

[Guest]

It’s only going to get worse. It’s why I retired shortly after Rand became the parent co of ASC.

[Guest]

These accidents can be traced directly to upper management. After all, it is upper management that disposed of the AMO & SIU crews with all their decades of experience. The results are now becoming apparent.

The Boland testimony makes for incredible reading. The 1st Mate and 3rd Mate had experience aboard the Boland measured in HOURS. The 2nd Mate had only 2 weeks of experience on the vessel, while the Captain had less than a month, and had only served as Captain for 48 hours. When asked if he was concerned about the lack of experience among his crew, the Captain’s response was “not really.”

With such an incredibly green crew, it’s little wonder we are seeing all the mishap recently.

[rcrvrp]

More bad news for these guys. Has to be a lot of scrutiny of these people coming.

https://gcaptain.com/misguided-draft-gu ... ake-huron/

The master on this ship appears to have used some very poor judgment. Is this the type of thing that could get him demoted or fired?

[Geest]

And thats from 2023, NTSB/Transport Canada still have all of 2024's misadventures to go through!

[Guest]

More bad news for these guys. Has to be a lot of scrutiny of these people coming.

https://gcaptain.com/misguided-draft-gu ... ake-huron/

[Geest]

Every fleet has incidents over a period of time but the frequency we are seeing incidents with Rand; almost monthly if not more frequently, at this point is very much unprecedented for a modern American/Canadian fleet.

Very true, and I personally think that's a big part of the disdain for the way the company operates. If you take out the St Clair and Roger Blough layup fires pretty much every major casualty on the lakes in the last 4 years has been a Rand boat. This year alone has been particularly bad with the Cuyahoga burning, the Mariner hitting that ATON and the Michipicoten nearly sinking on Lake Superior among other high-profile incidents. I sincerely hope regulators on both sides of the border are keeping a close eye on their operations

[anon]

The American Steamship Company, long before being owned by Rand, had a string of many casualties like the Buffalo hitting Detroit River Light and the Indiana Harbor colliding with Lansing Shoal Lt. There were others as well. Rand is going through a bad period right now but it is not unprecedented.

I would argue that it is fairly unprecedented, at least in the days since they stopped sailing "coffin ships". ASC did hit the Lansing shoal and DRL but those were years apart. Every fleet has incidents over a period of time but the frequency we are seeing incidents with Rand; almost monthly if not more frequently, at this point is very much unprecedented for a modern American/Canadian fleet.