STEP CHANGE FOR SAFETY GLOBAL SHARING DEC 2013 - SAFE NAVIGATION | Page 11

GLOBAL SHARING MONTHLY NEWSLETTER – DEC. 2013 - NAVIGATION
KEY MESSAGE: REMAIN VIGILANT, EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED & TAKE EARLY ACTIONS.
WHAT HAPPENED:

Incident: Our LNG vessel was safely anchored inside Fujairah "D" anchorage when A LNG was observed, on
our port bow, more or less on reciprocal course, approaching from the SE. After reaching close to Tanker
Vessel she swung hard to port and crossed our bow at approximately 1 cable length distance, while steaming
at approximately 8.5-9.0 kts, in order to get deeper inside the anchorage. The vessel could not be called as
she was busy contacting Fujairah Port. Any further call could have caused distraction on her bridge.
This manoeuvre was completely unnecessary as in order to get to their intended anchoring position she could
have passed between our vessel and Tanker aft of our vessel without endangering anyone as you can see on
the sketch. This close quarter manoeuvre should be avoided and luckily nothing went wrong. As you will see
on the attached radar picture and Past track she took some time to steady her Course.
Actions: Duty Officer called Master on Bridge & Anchor Stations as well as Engines were started to make
ready at short notice. Anchor party was ready for immediately slacking the cable & small fenders were ready
at the f'cle. Later on when all was safe n secured Our Management Office was informed about the incident as
well as pictures of the situation .Our QA manager circulated the incident around the fleet to highlight the
importance of lookout & being vigilant at all times during the watch. Our QA manager also followed up with
the other company’s Office. The other company had their own investigation done. Later on they issued a
Circular to their fleet about Safe Speed in Anchorages, which they copied to our company. Also, they
encouraged the reporting culture of the incidents.
OUR BEST PRACTICES:

1. Passage Plan prepared from berth to berth & deviation included if any comes during the voyage.
2. All Officers are briefed about the voyage & passage plan for approval & any improvement.
3. All routes are properly Marked on charts with position fixing methods & Intervals to be used, UKC, Cautions
for crossing traffic, No go areas, Parallel Indexing, calling Master areas, Marpol limits, Abort points if any,
contingency anchorages & Port or VTS contacts.
4. We encourage about 50 miles distance from the coast for the routes we can manage.
5. 24hrs Look out personnel on the bridge with no other duties during navigation as well as at anchor.
6. Advise the bridge team manning areas
7. Double up watches in Congested waters.
8. Extra 2nd officer on all our vessels so Ch.off. always with Masters Ticket ready to relieve master in Long
pilotage / congested waters as well as during bad visibility etc.
9. Visual Bearing & position fixing
10. Comparing position with GPS & Bearings & distance fixes.
11. Checking Compass Errors every watch & every Change of course & comparing Deviation with deviation
card.
12. Knowing & following the limitations of all Nav Aids.
13. Using Celestial Fixes in the open seas to continue train our cadets as well as our Officers remain fully
familiar with the usage incase need arises.
14. Updating to latest Editions & Correcting Charts to latest available notices to mariners on Chartco system
as well as marking the T & P corrections.
15. All Nav warnings made available for all the areas & used as per voyage requirement.
16. De-Briefing of the passage plan is carried out; if anything could be done better is discussed.
Lesson:

ST

31

DEC 2013

A Shell Marine Contractors Safety Initiative