STEP CHANGE FOR SAFETY GLOBAL SHARING SEP 2013 - PILOT LADDERS | Page 5

GLOBAL SHARING MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

Gangway damaged during unberthing
One vessel was to move from her berth (port side alongside) and tie up at another berth (starboard side alongside) further up the dock. A pilot and two harbour tugs arrived at the designated time and Master Pilot information was exchanged before commencing the movement. The pilot requested that the port accommodation ladder be hoisted by only a few metres and retained there, as he intended to use it for disembarking from the 'sea' side at the next berth. Due to the ship's draught, height of the pier and the state of tide, in this 'raised' position, the gangway was only about a metre clear of the jetty. During the unmooring operation, there was a strong off-shore wind and moderate rain, and due to the latter, both the Master and the Pilot remained inside the wheelhouse throughout. On the pilot's advice, all headlines and stern line(s) were first let go, retaining only the back springs fore and aft. After the sternline(s) had been retrieved on board, the deck officer in charge of the aft mooring station went over to the back spring winch, which was situated on the starboard main deck, forward of the accommodation. He engaged the gear of the mooring winch and slackened the aft back spring. From his location across the full width of the ship, the deck officer had no view of the quayside, and was relying on and responding to hand signals from an A/B stationed at the ship's port side. Due to the low clearance between the gangway and the jetty, the length and lead angle of the mooring line and the widening gap between the ship and the berth, the slack back springs became fouled with the accommodation ladder and could not be cleared despite efforts by the shore mooring gang. The A/B indicated the dangerous situation by hand signals to the deck officer, creating some critical seconds' delay in responses and in communicating the information to the bridge. Once aware of the situation, the Master requested the Pilot to instruct the tugs to push the vessel back towards the jetty , but by the time this was done, the entangled gangway had been subject to severe axial, twisting and crushing forces and was severely damaged. Root cause/cont