Allowing for exhaustion
The grounding of the coal carrier Sheng Neng 1 on the Douglas Shoal of Australias Barrier Reef seems unlikely to enter maritime history as a mystery of the sea. Despite the evident widely expressed initial surprise at the apparent inability of the ship to negotiate a channel 12 miles wide out into the open Tasman Sea, preliminary findings by accident investigators appear to have homed in on fatigue as a primary cause of the accident.
Meanwhile, the Queensland Government has charged the Master and Chief Officer of the ship, which has been salved and is now lying off the port of Gladstone where it is expected she will eventually be emptied. Bottom damage is said to be extensive, as one might expect with a fully laden 70,000 DWT ship running into a coral reef at full tilt.
This is a high profile accident, even though the pollution was confined to a single breached bunker tank, which occurred in an environmentally sensitive part of the world, and the political fallout has already been considerable. The Queensland premier, who has made rather a career for herself out of expressing loud outrage at marine accidents, has been in full flow and is clearly determined that this case will become a cause célèbre. Already there have been politically driven calls for the closer control of ships off this vulnerable coast, and extensions to compulsory pilotage areas.
The fact that such a demand for a pilot to take ships through a wide channel attracts no professional support as it is so manifestly unnecessary, does not mean that it will not happen, as political pressure increases. Just as the most appropriate reaction to the grounding of the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sound, Alaska, would surely have been to demand double captains rather than double hulls, what is best for shipping (or even the environment) may not necessarily take place once a political head of steam gets up.
From a practical point of view, close surveillance of waters in the vicinity of the southern portion of the Barrier Reef seems scarcely justified by the volume of traffic, and to require a pilot to negotiate a wide channel would seem to be overkill. A more useful reaction might be to consider the issue of fatigue, as identified by the Australian investigators.
People who have had experience of operating large bulk carriers know that for the Chief Officer, who is normally in charge of cargo operations, time alongside the loaders can be exceedingly busy if he is taking his responsibilities seriously. The Mate is the link between ship and terminal, and he will be anxious to ensure that the agreed cargo plan is complied with, that the ship is not stressed in any way, and that deballasting is expeditiously undertaken, moorings remain tight, and inordinate amounts of coal are not spilled as the spout moves between holds. The terminal, for its part, is interested in ensuring that the ship is handled at the maximum speed, and got off the berth as soon as cargo handling is over. And with the pressure that has been on Australian bulk terminals this year, with large numbers of ships queuing for berths, it might be expected that the sense of urgency will be very great.
The fact that the investigators have identified fatigue in their preliminary report as one reason that the Chief Officer failed to make the single course change to take the ship clear of the shoal, is something that perhaps should have alarm bells ringing around the world. It is a fact that rest periods are prescribed by regulation, but nevertheless it must be asked whether regulation accords with reality at these periods of maximum activity in port. It might be suggested that the exhausted Chief Officer could have done with some assistance or even relief from the six hour watch that saw the ship ashore, and that the internal organisation of the vessel might have been better.
But it also might be asked, before wide ranging schemes of compulsory pilotage are put in place, whether rather more attention is paid to the management of fatigue, bearing in mind that the Sheng Neng 1 is just the latest (if one of the more spectacular) accidents that have been attributed to this cause. Whether this is accomplished by organisational management, or better provision for rest periods, it would seem to be prudent to examine this with some urgency before the political solutions become too entrenched.
Source: Watchkeeper