Khlong Saen Saeb commuter boats suspended after engine blast

[webfact]

Khlong Saen Saeb commuter boats suspended after engine blast



BANGKOK, 7 March 2016 (NNT) – Family Transport Co. has suspended 72 commuter boats after the investigation indicated that a gas leak was blamed for the engine explosion of one of its boats on Saturday.

Family Transport Co. disclosed that experts were examining how the gas leak occurred. The company has 72 boats plying along the Saen Saeb canal. Thirty of them are gas-powered boats. The service suspension takes effect from 5th to 6th March during which time the Marine Department is inspecting the conditions of all the company’s boats.

Family Transport has decided to stop using liquefied natural gas (LNG) in response to the Saturday boat engine blast that wounded more than 60 people. The company pledged to take full responsibility for all the injured. The Marine Department and police are tasked with taking legal action against the company.

The company expects to resume its services after the Marine Department’s safety inspection.


-- NNT 2016-03-07

[webfact]

Commuter boats which use LNG and diesel as fuel are banned from Klong Saen Saep



BANGKOK: -- The Marine Department has banned the mixed use of diesel and LNG as fuel in commuter boats travelling in Klong Saen Saep following a blast on a commuter boat of Family Transport Company on Saturday injuring 58passengers.

Mr Nut Jubjai, deputy director-general of the department, disclosed that out of 70 commuter boats oprating in Klong Saen Saep, about 30 of them were fuelled with diesel and LNG.

He said operators of the boats which were fuelled with the two types of oil were told to stop using their boats or modified to use diesel only.

A meeting will be held this week with the operators of commuter boat services in the klong to discuss safety issue and to adopt preventive measures to prevent the incident from recurring.

The department has also set up a team to investigate the explosion which was suspected to be cause of LNG leak and was reported to be the first of its kind.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/153820


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-07

[petedk]

"The company has 72 boats plying along Saen Saeb canal."

"Family Transport Co. has suspended 72 commuter boats..."

Does that mean the "service" is closed today?

I wrote "service" because a couple of years ago there was a survey about the boats.

I said that the drivers should treat the boats as a service and not a race course, by stopping completely to let passengers on and off.

I actually received a reply saying that they were "competing or comparable with BTS in transport times".

Anyway back to the disaster. I hope they do a thorough check of the boats.

As I mentioned in a previous post, only last week did I hear a loud hissing sound like gas escaping. I thought the boats only used diesel and that it was some kind of compressed air.

Maybe several boats are at fault.

[cumgranosalum]

"The company pledged to take full responsibility for all the injured."

​it will be interesting to see how they interpret this in thr long term.........are they going to compensate the injured...so far they've stopped working for a day.

[theoldgit]

"The company has 72 boats plying along Saen Saeb canal."

"Family Transport Co. has suspended 72 commuter boats..."

Does that mean the "service" is closed today?

They're certainly running at the moment, I don't know if they've withdrawn any boats but they seem to be running a normal service this morning, and the boats are as tightly packed as ever.

[Xonax]

Does that mean the "service" is closed today?

Please read again: The service suspension takes effect from 5th to 6th March. Today is 7th March.

[Cuchulainn]

Absolute death traps. All piers must have sufficient lifebuoys according to the Marine Dept's laws. Yet to see one on any pier. An obvious and blatant disregard for the law. as well as packing passengers in like sardines. This shoddy service must be shut down until a proper, safe, responsible service is offered.

[spidermike007]

Perhaps the government should insist that the company replace the boats, with ones that are less than 50 years old! Employ more recent safety technology. Move into the 21st century. And if this company cannot afford to do so, invite open bidding.

[kingalfred]

Dangerous floating bombs in san saeb and all you get is a short suspension . Madness continues

Edited March 7, 2016 by kingalfred

[trogers]

Guess the syllabus in Thai education does not include preventive maintenance.

[Tchooptip]

Absolute death traps. All piers must have sufficient lifebuoys according to the Marine Dept's laws. Yet to see one on any pier. An obvious and blatant disregard for the law. as well as packing passengers in like sardines. This shoddy service must be shut down until a proper, safe, responsible service is offered.

"All piers must have sufficient lifebuoys'..."packing passengers in like sardines".....

If the passengers are considered sardines by the company no need for any lifebuoys Pffff

Edited March 7, 2016 by Tchooptip

[kiwikeith]

Dangerous floating bombs in san saeb and all you get is a short suspension . Madness continues

Floating bombs and maniac drivers, a suspension that lasted 2 days is farcical.

proceed at your own risk, very hard to get on and off them also if you have a tricky knee , they will pull away before your clear if your not carefull, I stopped useing them a few years ago.

[ratcatcher]

This, being the stern of the damaged boat, is not what a well maintained vessel should look like.

Frankly, for a vessel licensed to carry fare paying passengers, it should have been sent either to a shipyard for renovation work, or a boat breakers to be scrapped. I wonder what is the condition of the hull?

[elgordo38]

Guess the syllabus in Thai education does not include preventive maintenance.

Maintenance costs money. The status quo remains till something like this happens then the government comes down with both feet to look like a savior. As far as the pier buoys go I would doubt if there are any inspections and possibly a exchange of money and a wink.

[elgordo38]

aft.jpg

This, being the stern of the damaged boat, is not what a well maintained vessel should look like.

Frankly, for a vessel licensed to carry fare paying passengers, it should have been sent either to a shipyard for renovation work, or a boat breakers to be scrapped. I wonder what is the condition of the hull?

Surprised that some of the Thai defenders have not jumped in defending the shoddy practices in this case and many others. Come on lets hear from the love it or leave it crowd now

[webfact]

Khlong Saen Saep commuter boat service resumes as normal today



BANGKOK: -- The commuter boat service operated by Family Transport in Khlong Saen Saep began as usual Monday morning but with reduced number of boats.

The company said all its 25 boats that used mixed fuels of diesel and LNG were put out of services and are having all gas tanks removed.

The blank space which were used to keep the tank will be turned to seats instead.

The service this morning saw fewer boats in service and departure time of boats was adjusted to five minutes at a time as the first boat left at 6 am.

The company has 72 boats in service, 25 are powered by mixed diesel and LNG.

Passengers continued to take the boats to work as usual as it is the best alternative to avoid traffic jams on roads in Bangkok’s eastern suburb to inner zones.

But there was not much problem on passenger traffic today as most schools are closed on the annual long summer holiday.

Normally the boat service is popular among office workers, students travelling from the eastern suburb to the heart of the capital.

Source: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/153916


-- Thai PBS 2016-03-07

[mango66]

"The company pledged to take full responsibility for all the injured."

​it will be interesting to see how they interpret this in thr long term.........are they going to compensate the injured...so far they've stopped working for a day.

1.000,- thb light injured

5.000,- heavy injured

10.000,- for the 3 missing

[mango66]

Dangerous floating bombs in san saeb and all you get is a short suspension . Madness continues

until they remove the GAs tanks, will take more than 24 Hrs !

So not short !!

Remind: They compete with BTS !!

[Shadychris]

aft.jpg

This, being the stern of the damaged boat, is not what a well maintained vessel should look like.

Frankly, for a vessel licensed to carry fare paying passengers, it should have been sent either to a shipyard for renovation work, or a boat breakers to be scrapped. I wonder what is the condition of the hull?

Surprised that some of the Thai defenders have not jumped in defending the shoddy practices in this case and many others. Come on lets hear from the love it or leave it crowd now

No need to defend it. It is what it is.

Want to live in a 'nanny State' smothered by Health and Safety regulations? Don't come to Thailand to live.

Came to live in Thailand already, and expecting it to change to your liking and expectations? It won't - find somewhere else.

Happy now?

Edited March 7, 2016 by Shadychris

[jhonnie]

aft.jpg

This, being the stern of the damaged boat, is not what a well maintained vessel should look like.

Frankly, for a vessel licensed to carry fare paying passengers, it should have been sent either to a shipyard for renovation work, or a boat breakers to be scrapped. I wonder what is the condition of the hull?

Surprised that some of the Thai defenders have not jumped in defending the shoddy practices in this case and many others. Come on lets hear from the love it or leave it crowd now

No need to defend it. It is what it is.

Want to live in a 'nanny State' smothered by Health and Safety regulations? Don't come to Thailand to live.

Came to live in Thailand already, and expecting it to change to your liking and expectations? It won't - find somewhere else.

Happy now?

[MiKT]

If you actually enjoy travelling on these boats more than a couple of times you have to be crazy.........But, if you want to save 2 hrs++ to get to the centre of Bangkok in the rush hour, they cannot be touched by any other form of transport, car, bus or even a motorcycle taxi.

It would be great if they fitted mufflers to the exhausts and better rain protection, let alone if they actually stopped for more than 2.5 nanoseconds to let you on or off. But they have been going for donkeys years and rarely break down, so they do actually know a thing or two about maintenance.

(What is it with some TV'rs and Thai maintenance, you must let your "brother in law" fix your car or something.)

The gas idea is a newish thing and will probably be phased out as seat space is worth more than diesel in todays times.

I must say I am glad I was not on-board when it went up, as getting off must have been a nightmare - really terrible. I hope the injured all get better asap and get some reasonable compensation.

I also hope (but have very little faith) that somebody in the BMA or whoever is responsible for boats (marine dept?) gets something done about making the service at least a bit safer.

But as pointed out already, if you don't like, don't bl..dy well go. These boats sift a sh.t load of passengers all day and are a great way to travel if you can actually manage to stagger-on and off and are at least partially deaf, or a Thai who can sleep through anything.

[sandyf]

aft.jpg

This, being the stern of the damaged boat, is not what a well maintained vessel should look like.

Frankly, for a vessel licensed to carry fare paying passengers, it should have been sent either to a shipyard for renovation work, or a boat breakers to be scrapped. I wonder what is the condition of the hull?

Surprised that some of the Thai defenders have not jumped in defending the shoddy practices in this case and many others. Come on lets hear from the love it or leave it crowd now

You have to take your pick. Western standards at Thai prices is not an option. There is no doubt that changes will be made and prices will go up but its not going to happen overnight, despite what opinions are expressed.

[roadpeople]

Has the Khlong Saen Saep boat service resumed yet? I will go there via boat next week, in May 2016

[NCFC]

Has the Khlong Saen Saep boat service resumed yet? I will go there via boat next week, in May 2016

It,s a long trip to Thailand via boat, no?