Transport Malta reports of the grounding of a bulk carrier in the Indonesian Archipelago.
The Incident
At 1155, on 02 March 2021, a Maltese registered bulk carrier ran aground on a shoal off Pulau Bisa in the Indonesian Archipelago, while on passage from Batangas, Philippines to Queensland, Australia. The vessel’s primary means of navigation was ECDIS. The officer of the watch was following a route displayed on the ECDIS, when unexpected shuddering was felt. Soon after, the vessel came to an abrupt stop.
The safety investigation determined that the immediate cause of the grounding was the proximity of the vessel’s track to the shoal. The MSIU has made two recommendations to the Company, to address time management and ECDIS documentation.
Safety actions taken
The company has taken a series of safety actions following this accident:
- Circulated the Company Incident Report with all fleet vessels;
- Additional training on Bridge Procedures Guide (5th Edition) and passage planning principles as per the Company’s ECDIS Management Manual is being provided to the bridge team members on board all fleet vessels;
- Reviewed the SMS procedures on watch arrangements and re-defined the composition of the navigational watch.
Recommendations
The company is recommended to:
- 04/2022_R1 Discuss with serving masters and navigational officers, to understand and act on situations where there is no sufficient time and resources to prepare and execute passage plans.
- 04/2022_R2 Add an entry on the ECDIS pre-departure settings checklist and/or the passage plan which identifies the time and date that route monitoring was activated.
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Source: Transport Malta
