Lessons learned: Port safeguards bypassed, leading to vessel operating outside its capabilities - SAFETY4SEA - Safety4Sea

The latest Safety Digest by UK MAIB informs of an incidental wherever a ro-ro cargo vas contacted with an outer fastener partition astatine a velocity of 2kts, resulting successful superficial damage.

A ro-ro cargo vas picked up a section aviator connected a blustery time earlier embarking connected a stream transition that included the transit of a lock.

The aviator boarded early, and a master/pilot speech was completed earlier they continued the stream transition with tide and upwind astern.

Unknown to the aviator and master, determination were delays astatine the fastener up arsenic the vas successful beforehand of them had requested a tug owed to the upwind conditions.

The aviator had not adjusted velocity to relationship for his aboriginal boarding and, by the clip they arrived astatine the lock, they had to crook to clasp their presumption against the tide and wind.

Once the fastener was clear, the aviator attempted an attack from his holding presumption but the vas would not crook distant from the upwind and truthful helium aborted his archetypal effort earlier completing a circular crook and making different approach, this clip with much speed.

The vas continued to conflict against the upwind and made interaction with the outer fastener partition astatine a velocity of 2kts, resulting successful superficial harm to the vas and infrastructure.

Lessons learned

• Procedure: The larboard had broad guidelines for the usage of a tug astatine the lock. This was the archetypal clip the vas had called astatine this larboard and, successful presumption of the vessel’s manoeuvring characteristics and upwind spot connected the day, a tug should person been ordered, but was not. There were opportunities for the aviator to petition a tug, namely erstwhile his frst attack to the fastener had to beryllium aborted, but this did not hap contempt the tug’s contiguous availability. The safeguards that the larboard had successful spot were bypassed, starring to the vas operating extracurricular its capabilities, the consequences of which could person been acold much costly. Guidelines are determination for a reason, and it pays to beryllium cautious.
• Communication: The aviator boarded earlier than helium was booked for bully crushed but did not past set the vessel’s velocity during the stream transit. When combined with the hold astatine the locks, this meant that the vas had to crook caput to upwind and tide and clasp presumption successful a little than perfect place. At nary constituent had vas traffc services (VTS) confrmed accomplishment times astatine the fastener oregon passed accusation astir the hold to the pilot, and communications from different parties astir tugs and upwind conditions were made via mobile phones. Without a shared intelligence exemplary built from unfastened connection betwixt VTS, the pilots and the fastener operators, a hazardous concern was allowed to make that could person been avoided with proactive management.
• Teamwork: The master/pilot speech took spot erstwhile the aviator boarded but salient accusation was either missed oregon not implemented during the approaches to the lock. The vessel’s aviator paper stated that minimum steerage was achieved astatine 5 to 6kts done the h2o but, erstwhile considering the pursuing tide, this was not achieved connected either approach. The master/pilot speech is each excessively often disregarded but is important to the integration of the aviator into the span squad and their quality to safely program and transportation retired manoeuvres.