UK MAIB issued an investigation report on the grounding of the Ro-Ro freighter ferry MV Arrow off Aberdeen Harbour, Scotland, in June 2020. The investigation revealed that the ship grounded because its bridge team lost situational awareness in thick fog.
The incident
At 0727 on 25 June 2020, the Isle of Man registered ro-ro freight ferry Arrow grounded in thick fog while entering Aberdeen Harbour. During its port approach, a pilot exemption certificate (PEC) holder provided by the vessel’s charterer was navigating by radar and steering the vessel.
The vessel encountered the thick fog a few minutes before it entered Aberdeen’s 70m wide Navigation Channel, and with limited support from the bridge team, the PEC holder became overloaded.
Consequently, while attempting to correct a deviation to the north of the planned track, he overcorrected to the south. The over-correction was not noticed by the bridge team in time to avoid the grounding.
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After grounding, the vessel began to list significantly in the falling tide. After confirming no water ingress into the hull, with the assistance of a tug, the master used Arrow’s engines and bow thruster to refloat the vessel. There were no injuries or pollution but there was significant damage to the hull.
Probable causes
Arrow grounded because its bridge team lost situational awareness in thick fog. The PEC holder, who was conning and steering the vessel in a narrow channel, became overloaded by the complexity of the combined tasks and was not adequately supported by the rest of the bridge team. The PEC holder over-corrected in an attempt to recover position after being at the northern margins of the channel, resulting in the ferry grounding as it left the south of the channel,
…the report reads.
Conclusions
- Arrow grounded on the southern side of the Aberdeen Navigation Channel because the PEC holder conning and steering the ship over-corrected the ship’s heading after initially being on the northern side of the channel, and did not realize the error until it was too late to avoid the grounding.
- None of the bridge team spotted the danger in time to stop the grounding.
- The bridge team was not adequately prepared for pilotage in restricted visibility. A pre-arrival briefing had not been conducted; the passage plan lacked a formal abort position; which could have triggered a re-evaluation of the plan; and the restricted visibility checklist has not been completed effectively.
- Passage planning for the pilotage phase did not identify safety limits for the vessel that allowed for manoeuvring characteristics and the size of the vessel in relation to the available width of navigable water. The plan relied heavily on the conning team being able to see visual references, and it was insufficient for safe navigation in restricted visibility.
- More effective use could have been made of the radars and ECS.
- The PEC holder was probably overloaded by the combined duties of steering the vessel in addition to navigating it by the use of the radar.
- The layout of the centre bridge console did not assist pilotage conning in restricted visibility from the port radar display as the ECS display was 2.5m away.
- The limits to which Arrow could safely be steered off the base track did not appear to be appreciated by the bridge team.
- Bridge Resource Management was poor and, as a result, the bridge team did not adequately support the PEC holder.
- Seatruck’s SMS did not require Arrow’s bridge team to practice pilotage in restricted visibility.
Actions taken
As a result of this accident, Seatruck Ferries Limited has undertaken a number of actions designed to improve the safe navigation of its vessels in pilotage waters, including, inter alia, implementation of effective Bridge Resource Management, clarifying its requirements for the conduct of pilotage by pilotage exemption certificate holders, navigation in restricted visibility and optimizing the use of electronic navigation systems.
On its part, Aberdeen Harbour Board has reviewed its vessel traffic service procedures and introduced a graded pilotage exemption certificate system, together with enhancements to training.
EXPLORE MORE BY READING THE FULL UK MAIB REPORT
