The Swedish P&I Club issues Monthly Safety Scenario for August 2015
The Swedish P&I Club has published its Monthly Safety Scenario for August 2015 regarding cargo damaged caused by broken lashings. The Swedish Club publishes on a monthly basis a new “Monthly Safety Scenario” (MSS) to assist owners in their efforts of complying with the maritime regulations.
A general cargo vessel equipped with two cargo holds was planning to load in three different ports before the ocean passage. The vessel’s master requested dunnage and lashing material for the loading in the last port from the charterer. The request included 64 stoppers, 64 H-beams and 50 D-Rings. Everything except the H-beams was delivered to the vessel.
The charter had also arranged for a super cargo to be onboard during the loading to make sure that the cargo securing was done properly. For reasons unknown the super cargo was present at all ports except the final loading port. Cargo securing and lashing in all three ports was done by the crew. A lashing plan had not been drawn up by the charterers for any of the loading ports.
The charterer had arranged weather routing for the ocean voyage. A few days into the voyage, the vessel encountered heavy weather in the Pacific Ocean with force 9 winds. The vessel was rolling and pitching heavily and the master decided to reduce speed to half ahead and adjust the course to reduce rolling and pitching. Suddenly the fire alarm was triggered in cargo hold 1, followed by dense smoke from the cargo hold.
The master activated the cargo hold sprinkler system to prevent any eventual fire from spreading. Two hours later the crew entered the cargo hold with breathing apparatus and fire suits on. No fire was detected but five layers of pipes had broken loose and shifted. After a few hours the crew managed to relash the pipes.The heavy weather calmed down but three days later the weather deteriorated again with force 8 winds.
Loud noises were heard from the cargo area. Once again some cargo had broken loose and was moving in the cargo hold, causing damage to the vessel’s structure and adjacent cargo. The crew entered the cargo hold again to try and secure the cargo. One 80m cargo unit had shifted causing damage to other cargo units and the vessel’s structure.
The crew failed to secure the unit. For the safety of the crew the Master decided to abandon the operation. The weather deteriorated so the master deviated to the nearest port of refuge.
The Scenario encloses the following questions for review of the accident and lessons learnt: 1. What were the immediate causes of this accident? 2. Where does the chain of error start? 3. What is the risk of this type of accident happening to the vessel? 4. What are the procedures for securing cargo? 5. How do we check that it has been secured correctly? 6. When we will be encountering heavy weather how do we ensure that equipment and cargo is secured correctly? 7. Do we practice MRM on our bridge? 8. What failed in the communication? 9. Do we practice closed loop communication onboard? 10. How could this accident have been prevented? 11. What sections in our SMS, if any, were breached? 12. Would our SMS have been enough to prevent this accident? 13. If procedures weren’t followed, why do you think this was the case? 14. What do you think is the root cause of this accident? |
Source: The Swedish P&I Club