Transport Malta reports of the grounding of a container vessel.
What happened
On 26 November 2020, the Maltese registered container vessel was Southbound in the Suez Canal, en route to Jebel Ali, U.A.E. The ship was on hand steering, with a pilot on board. Navigating toward Tusun Signal Station at the Km 88 mark, the vessel started to lose directional control and veered off course to port. Corrective actions by the crew members did not prevent Al Muraykh’s bow running into the West bank and aground. The vessel sustained structural damages in the bulbous bow region. It was discovered that a defective potentiometer was causing erratic which in turn deviations, led to unpredictable responses from the rudder. None of the crew members were aware of this and subsequent interventions did not counter the hydrodynamic forces acting on the ship’s hull.
The MSIU has issued one safety recommendation, designed to raise awareness on technologyinduced system complexity.
Safety actions taken
During the safety investigation, the Company carried out an internal investigation in accordance with the requirements of the ISM Code and initiated the following preventive actions:
- Steering system under review with the manufacturer with respect to replacing the existing system with ‘fool proof’ FU / NFU selector switches on the control panel. Feedback system were reprogrammed to allow comparison of signals from all potentiometers and to trigger an alarm when a predefined value in error persists for a predefined period of time.
- Navigational officers were instructed to change the rudder feedback system and switch on the control panel, daily.
- While conducting emergency steering drills, it was recommended that the NFU and mini wheel from the bridge are used.
Recommendations
The company is recommended to: 25/2021_R1 Disseminate the findings of this safety investigation to raise awareness on the complexities of technology and automation.
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Source: Transport Malta
