Grounding in restricted visibility

Swedish P&I Club issues Monthly Safety Scenario for December

The Swedish P&I Club published its Monthly Safety Scenario for December 2013 regarding grounding in restricted visibility. The Swedish Club publishes on a monthly basis a new “Monthly Safety Scenario” (MSS) to assist owners in their efforts of complying with the above regulations.

Under the ISM requirement owners are obliged to carry out monthly safety meetings or safety committee meetings on board their vessels. This obligation stems from Chapter 5 of the ISM Code: “Master’s responsibility and authority” and furthermore from “5.1.2, motivating the crew in the observation of that policy”. You can read below the published Monthly Safety Scenario for December.

Grounding in restricted visibility

The vessel was in port discharging coal. Sincethe last port the vessel had had some problemswith the x-band radar and it had finally brokendown just before arrival. The master had notreported this to the port authorities, but thepilot reported it after arrival. While alongside,the electrician tried to repair the radar butwas unsuccessful. The master arranged fora service engineer to attend but he couldn’trepair the radar.

The vessel was scheduled to depart in the morningat 06.00, the port asked if the vessel couldleave earlier as another vessel needed the berth.The master responded that the vessel woulddepart as soon as the discharge was finished.During the night dense fog reduced visibility inthe port. At 04.00 the discharge was completeand the port asked the master if the vessel wasready to sail, the master responded that he wasnot happy to sail in reduced visibility.

A pilot embarked the vessel at 05.30 andagreed with the master that they should delaydeparture until the fog had dissipated. Thetugboat was not allowed to work in restrictedvisibility. The master left the bridge after a briefdiscussion with the pilot. The pilot remained onthe bridge with the 2nd Officer, who had notprepared the vessel for departure. Before themaster left the bridge he told the 2nd Officer toinform him when visibility had improved.

The port called the pilot and asked when hethought the vessel would be ready to sail asvisibility had slightly improved. The pilot said hewas not really sure but would ask the master. Themaster came to the bridge and discussed visibilitywith the pilot. It was still foggy with patches ofdense fog but visibility had improved slightly.The master said they could depart but he wasnot really comfortable doing so.

The master told the 2nd Officer to prepare thebridge for departure. The pilot was a bit confusedabout how to set up the radar and the OOWdidn’t understand how the pilot wanted theradar to be set up. The Chief Officer came ontothe bridge for departure and the 2nd Officerproceeded to the forward mooring station. Thepilot asked the Chief Officer if he could set upthe radar but he couldn’t set it up as per thepilot’s requirements, so the pilot gave up. Themaster and pilot discussed how to manoeuvre inthe fog but never discussed who was responsiblefor what.

Read more in the Swedish P&I Club Monthly Safety Scenario – November 2013 Grounding in restricted visibility

Source: The Swedish P&I Club