Flooding of engine room on February 2013
The Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Board (DMAIB) has issued Marine Accident Report on EMMA Maersk flooding of engine room last February.
On the evening of 1st February 2013, a severe leakage occured in the container ship EMMA Maesrk while the ship, loaded with general cargo in about 14,000 containers. was about to pass southbound through the Suez Canal.
The leakage was caused by a mechanical break-down of a stern thruster situated at the aft part of the ship’s shaft tunner whereby the shaft tunnel was flooded. The bulkhead between the shaft tunnel and the main engine room could not withstand the hydrostratic water pressure and eventually the main engine room was also flooded.
The situatino became complicated because the ship had just initated a passage in a convoy through the Suez Canal. Loss of the ship’s own propulsion, electric power, steerage and manoeuvrability could be foreseen and eventually occurred.
The main technical sequence of events were a break-down of the forward stern thruster causing a major leakage into the shaft tunnel, a collapse of the watertight integrity of the bulkhead between the shaft tunnel and the engine room, primarily caused by non-effectivecable penetration sealings and some undesirable properties of the bilge system and theemergency bilge suction from the engine room. Throughout the course of events, all officersand crew members were constantly disturbed and highly stressed by the sound of countless alarms, which made it extremely difficult to concentrate on the many challenges that appeared.
Despite a series of technical breakdowns and system weaknesses, the shipboard organization remained resilient and despite the breakdown of the structural barriers, the ship’s officers and crew managed to contain the emergency situation and bring the ship alongside at the Suez Canal Container Terminal without any personal injury or pollution to the environment.
The report contains information about the preventive measures taken by the shipping company, the classidication society and other parties involved. For more information, please click at DMAIB EMMA Maersk Report
