No injuries, damage or pollution reported
The ATSB has issued marine investigation report on the grounding of the general cargo ship Bosphorusat Lytton Rocks Reachin the Brisbane River.
At about 2000 on 29 October 2013, the general cargo ship Bosphorus grounded at Lytton Rocks Reach in the Brisbane River after the ships helmsman unintentionally put the helm the wrong way.
By the time that the Brisbane Marine Pilot on board the ship realised that the helm had gone the wrong way, it was too late to prevent the ship from grounding in the narrow section of the river. There were no reported injuries, damage or pollution as a result of the grounding.
The occurrence
At 17551 on 28 October 2013, the 129 m general cargo ship Bosphorus departed the Port of Gladstone, Queensland, bound for Brisbane, Queensland.
At 1530 on 29 October, the ship approached the Brisbane pilot boarding ground. The bridge team consisted of the master, chief mate, as officer of the watch (OOW), and a seaman acting as the helmsman.
At 1609, a Brisbane marine pilot was embarked for the inbound transit of Moreton Bay, the Brisbane River and to the berth. The master and pilot exchanged information regarding the ship, the inward passage and the berthing manoeuvre and they agreed on the passage plan.
The pilot took the conduct of the ship and then completed setting up his portable pilot unit (PPU). The master moved to the bridge office on the starboard side of the bridge to undertake other administrative duties.
The passage proceeded in hand steering with the chief mate monitoring the ships position from his seat in front of the port radar. The ship transited the bay without incident.
On approach to the Brisbane River, the master assumed his seat in the chair in front of the starboard radar. The pilot was standing to the starboard side, in between the bridge control console and the table on which his PPU was located.
At 1934, as Bosphorus was transiting the entrance channel and approaching the Outer Bar Reach the helmsman was relieved by another seaman. The new helmsman confirmed the ships course with the pilot. About a minute later, the ship began to veer to starboard. The pilot immediately noticed the change in heading and issued a number of helm orders to bring the ship back onto course.
At about 1950, the third mate came to the bridge to familiarise himself with the situation prior to proceeding to the forward mooring station in about 30 minutes for the ships berthing.
Shortly after, the pilot requested a reduction of speed to 6 knots2 for the river transit.
As the ship approached the swing basin off Fisherman Islands, the pilot gave a number of helm orders to bring the ship onto the next course of 185T.3 The helmsman repeated each order and applied the helm until the ships heading was 185.
At about 1958, the chief mate instructed the third mate to watch the helmsman. The chief mate then went to fill in the log book and the third mate took up a position to the right of the helmsman.
Section of navigational Chart AUS 237 showing the ship’s track and grounding
The next course, through Lytton Rocks Reach, was 199. The pilot ordered starboard 5 and then starboard 10. When the vessel was swinging to starboard, he ordered midships. He then ordered the helmsman to steady on a course of 199. At about 1959, the helmsman informed the pilot the course was steady on 199.
Shortly after, at about 2000, the pilot observed that the ship was not steady, but still swinging to starboard towards shallow water. He ordered midships immediately followed by port 10.
The helmsman responded verbally with port 10 but instead applied 10 of starboard helm. The pilot then ordered port 20 and then hard to port. Each time the helmsman repeated the order but applied starboard helm.
Within 9 seconds, the pilot noticed that the wheel was still to starboard and then shouted youre going to starboard. The third mate then intervened and swung the wheel hard to port. The pilot then ordered half astern, full astern and then for a tug to come and assist.
At 2001, Bosphorus grounded in position 27 24.0 S; 153 09.1 E at the Lytton Rocks Reach Channel.
At 2004, the pilot contacted Brisbane Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) and requested the assistance of another tug. Meanwhile, the master instructed the crew to sound all of the ships tanks to establish whether the integrity of the hull had been compromised. He also asked for soundings to be taken over the side. The soundings revealed that the hull had not been breached and that the ship was aground forward.
At 2006, two tugs arrived alongside Bosphorus and were made fast. The ships engine was run astern and with the assistance of the tugs, the ship was re-floated.
At 2020, the ship was again underway and it proceeded to the Incitec South Berth, Gibson Island, where it berthed at 2145. While alongside, the ship was examined both internally and externally for damage. No damage was identified.
On 2 November, Bosphorus departed the berth and was anchored in Morton Bay to facilitate an underwater hull inspection. Minor scraping to the ships hull and slight damage to the propeller was identified. The ship remained at anchor until the afternoon of 3 November, when it was berthed at Fisherman Islands container terminal to resume its service.
On 3 November, Bosphorus departed Brisbane bound for Melbourne.
Contributing factors |
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More details may be found at the ATBS Investigation Report (please click image below to download the report)