Tag: anchor

The University of Wollongong will collaborate with NSW Ports to examining how deep-water anchors affect seabed ecosystems. This project aims to benefit marine life not only in the waters off Port Kembla but at ports around Australia and worldwide. Initial investigations discovered large areas of rocky reef.

The West of England Club continues to see collisions between vessels underway and at anchor in Chittagong anchorage area, with 50 such incidents recorded since 2013. The considerable increase of ships calling at Chittagong has brought a respective increase of incidents, which has attracted the attention of marine insurance industry in recent years.

During 15-21 May, two incidents of armed robbery against ships were reported to the ReCAAP ISC. The first involves the product tanker 'Kirana Tritya' while anchored at Panjang Anchorage. The second involves the tug boat 'Budget 19' that was towing the barge 'Budget 29', off Southern Johor, Malaysia.

UK MAIB in its latest Safety Digest presents a case where a windfarm support vessel was trying to anchor when the low fuel pressure alarm on the starboard engine sounded. When a crewman released the windlass the anchor failed to 'free fall'. As the vessel was in danger, the master called the coastguard, a lifeboat was deployed and the vessel was towed safely.

UK MAIB presents an incident where, because of bad weather a Ro-Ro cargo vessel decided to anchor to allow the weather front to pass through. The vessel anchored, but a little later, the second officer on watch on the bridge suspected that the anchor was dragging. The master turned on the engines, managing to stop the dragging,

The UK MAIB issued an investigation report on the grounding of the general cargo vessel 'Islay Trader', off Margate, Kent, UK, in October 2017. The report highlights the importance of planning when going to anchor and the requirement for ensuring that an effective watch is kept whilst at anchor.

In its latest report for January-March 2018, the ReCAAP ISC noted a significant improvement in piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia, which was most apparent at ports and anchorages in Bangladesh and Philippines. However, the number of incidents at Vietnam’s anchorage and in Straits of Malacca and Singapore has increased slightly.

Lots of maritime incidents have been occurred during anchoring operations. Maneuvering at anchorage and dragging or leaving vessel’s anchor are a few of them. There are many things that have to be considered before and during anchoring.

The ferry Ferry Fukuoka II with some 600 passengers onboard  had a collision with a buoy that marks shallows, southwest of Akashi, Honshu, Inner Japan sea, on March 18, while it was heading to Shimoji from Osaka. The ferry collided with the buoy while it was trying to prevent collision with passing ship.

In UK Club's latest 'Lessons Learned' publication, Captain David Nichol describes a case of loss of anchor, due to inefficient assessment by the Master and the anchoring team. This is just one of numerous incidents involving vessels losing anchors and cables attributable to either incorrect practice or equipment deficiencies.