Ship collision: no one keeping watch

The F.V. Commission collided with the stationary container vessel Kota Lembah. Photo/Supplied.

The final report after a fishing boat and container ship collided in the Bay of Plenty last year, has now been released by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission.

At about 4am on July 28, 2021, the longline Fishing Vessel Commission was motoring at about 6 knots while laying out 22 nautical miles of fishing line about 70 NM off the coast in the Bay of Plenty.

The F.V. Commission collided with the stationary container vessel Kota Lembah, which had been drifting in the area for several days while waiting for the next available berth at an Auckland port.

The Kota Lembah suffered scraping along its hull near the bow and the F.V. Commission suffered damage to its stabiliser arm and wheelhouse structure.

The hull of neither vessel was breached in the collision and nobody was injured.

The F.V. Commission's crew had detected the presence of the Kota Lembah on radar but made no attempt to sight the ship or plot it on the radar, says a TAIC spokesperson.

'There was nobody keeping watch in the wheelhouse at the time of the collision.

'The bridge team on the Kota Lembah had seen and were plotting the F.V. Commission on the radar, and despite the Kota Lembah being required to give way to the F.V. Commission under the applicable collision prevention rules, it did not do so.

'The watch keeping standards on both vessels fell well short of good industry practice.

'It was about as likely as not that the F.V. Commission's skipper was to some degree suffering from the effects of fatigue at the time.”

Adhering to the rules for preventing collisions at sea is the best defence against being involved in a collision.

When one vessel deviates from these rules, the risk of collision will be significantly higher, says the report. When two vessels deviate from them a collision becomes almost inevitable.

'Fatigue adversely affects human performance and is known to contribute to accidents. Vessels must be resourced so that fatigue can be appropriately managed.

'Non-compliance with standards for achieving navigation safety is also known to contribute to accidents. Anyone involved in keeping a navigational watch needs to be knowledgeable about the collision prevention rules.”

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1 comment

Fatigued?

Posted on 22-04-2022 12:21 | By morepork

... or "tired and emotional..."? Either way they bring seamen into disrepute.


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