Mars Reports 2014
The Nautical Institute has issued Mars Report No 44/2014 regarding a ship that hit seawall at 15knots while OOW fell asleep.
In the early morning hours, but still in darkness, a small container ship was making way at about 15 knots on autopilot with the officer of the watch (OOW) as the sole watch-keeper on the bridge. The visibility was good and there was no traffic, so the Master had given the instruction for the OOW to be alone on the bridge while making way in darkness. A few hours into his watch the OOW began to feel drowsy, so he began walking briskly around the wheelhouse. He then sat in the chair in front of one of the radars, confident he would not fall asleep. Somewhere between buoys four and five as they made landfall he fell asleep.
About 40 to 50 minutes later, at approximately 04:40, he woke up abruptly when he was thrown out of the chair by the impact of a collision. The vessel had hit the sea wall on the northern side of a nearby bridge. The ship was not equipped with a bridge watch navigation alarm system (BWNAS) at the time of the accident, nor was it required to have one.
Lessons Learned |
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Source and Image Credit: The Nautical Institute/ Mars Report
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Above Mars Report is edited from official report from theofficial report MA2014-1, Japan Transport Safety Board