As part of its series on maritime casualties related to ISM non-conformities, SAFETY4SEA focuses today on the sinking of the Anchor Handling Tug ‘Bourbon Dolphin’, which led to eight fatalities. In opposition to ISM Code, the operating company had not examined whether the vessel was suitable for the operation.
Several maritime casualties have been attributed to ISM-associated issues. SAFETY4SEA chose to focus today on the grounding of the general cargo ship ‘Harvest Caroline’ which constitutes an interesting case study of how inconsistent implementation of ISM can lead to unpleasant situations.
It has been 13 years, since the RoRo ‘Cougar Ace’ was involved in an incident that caused its entire cargo of almost 5,000 brand new cars to be scrapped. The incident highlighted issues related to the assignment of duties in a ship’s SMS, within the context of ballast water exchange operations.
32 years have passed since the capsizing of Herald of Free Enterprise, only a few minutes after leaving Zeebrugge port on 6 March 1987, killing 193 people. The incident is considered, not only as the deadliest casualty involving a UK-registered ship since 1919, but also as a wake-up call for safety improvements.
Last week marked 28 years since the explosion and sinking of the VLCC ‘MT Haven’ off the coast of Genoa, Italy. To date, Haven is not only known as the world’s largest shipwrecks, but also the largest oil spill in the history of the Mediterranean Sea.
16th April marks five years after Sewol ferry sinking shocked the global community. Sewol ferry sank on 16 April 2014, in South Korean waters taking the lives of over 300 people, most of whom where kids on a school excursion. Four years later, in August 2018, the official panel investigation on the accident said it could not find exact causes for South Korea’s deadliest maritime casualty since 1970.
The 10th of April marks 18 years since the fire onboard the Italian passenger ferry ‘Moby Prince’, Italy’s worst merchant marine disaster since the end of World War II. The incident, resulting in death of all but one person onboard, highlighted how miscommunication in emergency situations can be disastrous.
The last days of March have been ones of black anniversaries for shipping: On 24 March, the industry commemorated the Exxon Valdez incident. On 31st March, shipping mourns a relatively recent tragedy: The loss of the South Korean VLOC ‘Stellar Daisy’ in 2017, which took almost entire crew at the bottom of the South Atlantic.
February 27th marks 15 years after the bombing of the ‘SuperFerry 14’, the deadliest terrorist attack in Philippines, which killed a total of 116 people. The blast occurred on 27 February 2004 in Manila Bay, claiming the title of the world’s deadliest terrorist attack at sea until today.
February 15th marks 37 years from the loss of the semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit ‘Ocean Ranger’ off Canada. The platform sank along with its entire 84 crew, claiming the title of one of the worst offshore drilling accidents in North American history. The incident forms another example of how lack of compliance with procedures and inadequate safety culture can have tragic consequences.
