12th of June, 2020. About 80 nautical

miles off the coast of Brazil, a brand

new ship is about to be deliberately

sunk. The Stellar Banner is 4 years old

and cost over a hundred million dollars

to build. But right now, salvage crews

are preparing to scuttle it in water

more than 2,700 m deep. Deep enough that

the wreck will never be found again.

With all the fuel and hazardous material

removed, there's still a hundred and

fifty thousand tons of iron ore in the

holds. The generators are left running

to burn off the remaining fuel in the

lines. When the sea open, it takes

only 20 minutes. Huge fountains of red

water, iron ore mixing with sea water,

spray from the deck. The funnel breaks

free, resurfaces for about a minute,

then disappears.

Four months earlier, this ship had been

in perfect working order. So, what

happened?

February 24th, 2020.

The Stellar Banner departed Ponta da

Madeira Terminal in northeastern Brazil.

Fully loaded with 294,871

tons of iron ore bound for China. This

is a very large ore carrier. 340 m long,

drawing 21.5 m fully loaded. The

terminal sits inside Baía de São Marcos,

a bay known for extreme tidal range and

constantly shifting sandbars.

A 55 nautical mile buoyed channel marks

safe passage through the shoals. Red and

green markers showing the safe line

through the shallows using the IALA

system B standard used throughout the

Americas. The pilots boarded at 14:11

hours and the ship departed at 14:42

hours.

The master wasn't new to this channel.

Still, the passage plan calls for

following the buoyed channel all the way

out to open water.

At 15:24 hours, the pilots disembarked

while the ship continued down the

channel. By 18:45 hours, the Stellar

Banner reached one of two designated

anchorages where outbound ships can wait

for favorable tides. The master decided

not to anchor. He expected to cross the

sandbar at or near high tide. At 20:30

hours, the ship passed buoy number six.

The passage plan called for a turn here

to follow the marked channel. The master

decided to leave the channel. He didn't

tell the third officer why, and the

third officer didn't ask. An hour later,

at 21:30 hours, alarms went off

throughout the ship. The ship shudders.

The echo sounder shows dashes forward,

meaning either loss of signal or depth

too shallow to measure.

The ship's position is inside the 20-m

contour. And here's where it gets worse.

The master has been navigating using the

electronic chart, which shows the 20-m

shoal as a small patch about half a

nautical mile across. The paper chart

being used by the officer of the watch

shows the same shoal as 1.6 nautical

miles by 2.3 nautical miles. Same

location, but different size. Both

charts are based on surveys from the

1970s.

At about 21:33 hours, the ship's speed

drops suddenly. The master orders

officers forward to check for flooding

and to prepare to anchor. There's

flooding. There's forepeak void, the

double bottom void, the two starboard

ballast tanks. The pumps can't keep up

with the water coming in. At 22:11

hours, the ship anchors. The flooding is

serious. Water is entering the forepeak

void and the double bottom void faster

than the pumps can remove it. And by

early morning on February 25th, the

master decides to intentionally ground

the ship. Putting it on the bottom in

shallow water will stabilize it and

prevent it from rolling over. The list

gets worse throughout the day and by

evening the ship is listing 20°.

All 20 crew members abandon ship safely.

Over the next few days the list

increases to 25°.

The starboard deck goes underwater.

Salvers arrive and begin working.

First priority, remove the fuel before

the hull breaks up. Between mid-March

and late March they removed 3,500

tons of fuel oil and 140 tons of diesel.

Then they start on the cargo. The ship

is listing badly. Nearly 300,000 tons of

iron ore on a flooded damaged hull.

Remove enough of it and they might be

able to refloat her and see what's left.

It took 3 months. By late May about half

the cargo, 145,000

tons, had been removed. On May 27th they

pump air into the starboard tanks and

refloat the ship. It's towed to deeper

water for a damage survey.

The damage to the hull is catastrophic.

Fractures and tears along the entire

starboard side and bottom. The nearest

repair facility is thousands of miles

away. Towing an unstable damaged hull

across the South Atlantic risks an

environmental disaster. Even if you make

it, the repair costs would exceed what

the ship is worth.

The Korean Register Classification

Society declares it as a constructive

total loss. On the 12th of June the

Stellar Banner is scuttled in 2,700 m of

water with 150,000

tons of iron ore still aboard. So, what

went wrong?

The master deviated from the planned

route without telling anyone on the

bridge why. He chose to pass within one

nautical mile of a 20-m shoal based on

charts from the 1970s. The third officer

didn't ask questions and no one plotted

a new route. The master was navigating

using the electronic chart, which showed

the shoal as small. The third officer

was using a paper chart that showed the

same shoal as much larger. They never

compared notes. Critical information

never got shared. That's what bridge

resource management is supposed to

prevent. Changes have to go through the

whole bridge team, and charts are

approximations, especially ones based on

surveys from 50 years ago. The Stellar

Banner was four years old, built to the

highest standards. One navigational

decision made without complete

information, without communication, and

without the bridge team, and she went to

the bottom with 150,000

tons of cargo still aboard.

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