Category: Case Studies

Real Life Incident: General Cargo Ship Grounds And Suffers Hull Damage A small coastal general cargo vessel left port at 23:00. At 23:55 the second officer relieved the Master as OOW. The second officer felt normal and capable of keeping his watch, but there was no lookout assigned to that watch. After plotting the vessel’s…

Real Life Incident: Collision Of Container Ship With Another Ship Leads To Sinking and Fatalities A container ship collided with a small general cargo ship at night in clear weather under slight sea conditions, immediately after which the smaller cargo ship sank, with the loss of three crew members. Results of inquiry The container ship…

Real Life Incident: Container Ship Capsizes Whilst Loading At Port The vessel was about three-quarters of the way through loading. At the same time, the vessel was discharging contaminated oil from a double-bottom tank. The Master, who was standing on the quay, witnessed the ship take a heavy roll as one of the 20-foot containers…

Real Life Incident: Man Overboard Due to Improper Repair to Pilot Ladder While preparing to embark a sea pilot at an exposed anchorage off a north European port, a ship’s crew was rigging a pilot combination ladder. During the operation, a seaman stepped on the platform at the bottom of the accommodation ladder section, and…

Real Life Incident: Fall Overboard Results In Fatality A container vessel arrived at berth on a regular short sea run. When unloading, after the container was lifted from the vessel by the dock crane, the twistlocks remained behind in the corner castings, and had to be removed by hand. A deckhand was on the dock…

Real Life Incident: Gangway Fall Wire Parted Representation Image Arriving for a canal transit, the vessel had rigged the starboard accommodation ladder to facilitate the transfer of immigration, customs personnel, agents, ship chandlers, etc and to embark canal pilots. All these transfers were safely executed, after which the crew started heaving up the ladder in…

Real Life Incident: Vessel Crashes Into Closed Bascule Bridge A general cargo vessel in ballast was transiting the restricted waterways of a canal in darkness. The canal is traversed by many bridges and interrupted by locks. As is the custom in this area of the canal, the pilot was at the wheel, manoeuvring and conning…

Real Life Incident: Exposure to a Potential Killer On board a passenger ship, a crossover line between the port and starboard ballast/treated black water/grey water tanks passed through an adjacent cofferdam. The pipework in the cofferdam had suffered corrosion, and this allowed sewage to build up in the tank. Ship’s staff were aware of the…

Real Life Incident: Collision With Lighthouse A coaster was on a journey in a fjord. Early in the morning, when the ship was to change course, she collided with a small lighthouse. The reason why the collision took place is unknown but the ship must have turned too late or too slowly. The foundation of…

Real Life Incident: Seven Metre Fall into Water A bulk carrier was in the final stages of loading a cargo of iron ore. In order to read the outboard side draught marks, a rope ladder was rigged over the side adjacent to the marks. The deck officer on duty – of a large build and…

Real Life Incident: Fatal Accident to Cadet A Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier was lying at the outer anchorage off the port of Albany, Western Australia. The ship had just completed a voyage in ballast from Singapore and was preparing to load a cargo of Australian wheat for Inchon in South Korea. At about 0815 in the…

Real Life Incident: Collision With Sinking and Fatalities A container ship collided with a small general cargo ship at night in clear weather under slight sea conditions, immediately after which the smaller cargo ship sank, with the loss of three crew members. Image for representation only Results Of Inquiry The container ship had sailed from…

Real Life Incident: Listing of Double Hull Tanker During Cargo Operation While loading at a terminal, the ship listed heavily to port during shifting of ballast. She finally became stable at about 16 degrees list whilst touching the bottom. At the time of the accident, the ship was approximately at even keel with a draft…

Real Life Incident: Fatalities in Cargo Hold fire On a general cargo vessel undergoing repairs at a yard, a shore worker was gas-cutting the deck plating of the upper tween deck. The hold had only one means of access available, consisting of a common access trunk with fixed vertical ladder sections. Eight other labourers were…

Real Life Incident: Grinder Causes Fatal Bleeding Deck crew were undertaking normal maintenance jobs on a loaded bulk carrier at sea. The plan for the day included washing the open deck areas on the main deck and exterior accommodation. The Chief Officer held a toolbox meeting, during which the crew members were divided into four…

Real Life Incident: Vessel Grounding Wakes Up Sleeping Master And Causes Water Ingress A small passenger vessel offered overnight tourism trips from a home port. It took various routes depending on the conditions at the time, but all were well known to the Master. Each day, a new group of passengers boarded for a 24-hour…

Real Life Incident: An Improved Plan and An Unsupervised Unsafe Act End in Tragedy A tug assisted a tanker with a wire rope towline, and then went to anchor nearby in order to heave in the heavy line. This wire rope towline was not connected to the tug’s towing winch aft, and it was decided…

Real Life Incident: Mooring fatality Under pilotage, a bulk carrier was coming alongside a berth for loading. As they approached, the pilot explained to the Master the required manoeuvres. Two tugs would assist with the berthing operation. The vessel would be moored port side to the berth with two springs and four head/stern lines forward…