The Swedish P&I Club alert
The Swedish Club has experienced a number of incidents where the bow thruster room is flooded and therefore making the bow thruster and emergency fire pump inoperable. In a majority of cases flooding has been caused by either corroded pipes or a failure in the suction strainer.
Please find a brief description of consequences and prevention below.
Consequences
When this type of incident occurs, the consequences include:
- Electrical motor for bow thruster submerged/damaged
- Electrical motor for emergency fire pump submerged/damaged
- Hydraulic unit(s) submerged/damaged
- Bow thruster out of operation for a long time
- Possible damage to environment due to escape of pollutant
How to avoid a casualty
- Emergency fire pump suction filter cover clampIt is our opinion that this type of strainer with a single clamp holding the cover in place is, despite being classapproved, a substandard design. The only way to avoid these unnecessary and expensive incidents is toreplace the existing strainer with a strainer where the cover is bolted to the housing.
Clamp design (Image Credit: Swedish Club)
- Fit a high level alarm in the bow thruster room (if not fitted) and test the same on a weekly basis.
- It is recommended to connect the high level alarmto the engine control room as well as to the bridge.
For more information, be advised on the Swedish Club Alert Flooding of the Bow Thruster Room
Source: The Swedish P&I Club