The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has called for a review of the domestic policies on ship crew competence following a number of grounding incidents involving passenger and cargo vessels.
Commander Allan dela Vega of the PCGs Maritime Safety Office reported that the Coast Guard Command Center has recorded seven cases of grounding incidents involving M/V Pacific Cruiser, M/Y Nomad Korea, M/V Ivatan, M/V Tong Shun, M/V Sta. Filomena, M/V Super Shuttle Ferry and recently, M/V Filipina Ozamis.
On the other hand, M/V Sycamore Global rammed the pier of the Toledo Power Corp. in Cebu. The incidents happened during the months of May and June alone. Initial reports pointed to the human factor as the possible cause of the incidents.
Because of the increasing cases of vessel groundings, PCG Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo has recommended a joint review of domestic crew competence standards and training policies, as well as sanctions to negligent ship officers and crew, by the PRC, TESDA, MARINA and the PCG.
The PRC issues the competency certificates for all ship officers while TESDA, the Rating Certificate for non-officers, and MARINA issues the Qualification Document Certificate for both officers and crew.
Tamayo added that the human element plays a vital role in ensuring the safety of vessels, passengers and the protection of the marine environment.
The grounding incidents has alarmed the PCG and calls for the government agencies to immediately review existing policies and sanctions to erring ship officers and crew.
PCG noted that most of the incidents happened in clear visibility, fair weather condition and in an area where appropriate aids to navigation are in place.
Most of the vessels involved have been on their regular routes where the ships masters have familiarity of the area.
Tamayo explained that accidents arising from human error may be attributed to error of judgment, when the master or other responsible crew member did not plan properly the objective of the operation and the duty officer maneuvers the vessel without reference guidelines.
Accidents could also be due to complacency, when the responsible personnel is over-confident on his performance, his crew and how the operation is going on without the proper plan and monitoring disregarding basic standard procedures such as confirming positions through regular visual fixes or plotting of position in the chart or incompetence, when the personnel performing the job has no knowledge nor experience in the task that is being done.
Source:shiptalk