Skip to main content
  Photo: Birthe Lill Eskevik

Small workboat grounded in familiar waters

A small workboat ran aground on an unmarked reef along the daily route between the land base and the facility. The incident occured in daylight, with high water levels and calm seas.

Published
Birthe Lill Eskevik

What happened?

The master reported that they miscalculated the distance to a larger islet near the reef due to the high water levels.

The voyage was not planned in paper charts pr the chart machine. The chart machine was not approved by the Norwegian Maritime Authority. The accident report states that «everything gets the same colour and the chart machine was therefore of little use in this situation».

There was qualifies personnel on board, but it was not qualified personnel who operated the boat.

One of the three persons on board fell in the collision. The person was checked by a doctor but came away without injuries. Otherwise, there were only material damages to the vessel.

Cause assessment

There was no voyage planning conducted, and it should have been noted that there was particularly high water levels that day.

There was a qualified master with D6 certificate on board, but this person was not operating the vessel at the time of the incident. The person at the helm was recently enrolled in the D6 course, and the person standing next to them had completed the D6 course but did not have enough experience to obtain the certificate. The latter had been at the location as little as three days and was therefore not familiar with the waters.

The use of a non-approved chart machine can be a risk factor. In this case, the resoultion of the chart machine was too low to adequatley distinguish depths around the reefs, according to the shipping company.

Voyage planning/risk assessment

Since this happened in familiar waters where vessels move regularly, there should at a minimum be an overarching risk assessment to and from the location.

The risk assessment should include information about safe distances to known landmarks. The risk assessment/voyage planning must be known to the crew on board.

It is important that planning using paper charts is carried out if the vessel does not have an approved chart machine (ECDIS). Chart machines that are not ECDIS can be used as supplementary aids on smaller cargo ships but do not replace official nautical charts.

What have we learned?

Ensure that the procedure for voyage planning is made clear, communicated and followed up, for example by using a checklist. The shipping company can also conduct internal audits on the company's vessels.

It is important to focus on safe sailing/voyage planning at the interface between sea and land, for example in meetings for masters or similar gatherings.

Qualifications and experience is important. The person with the D6 certificate who was on deck should either have operated the boat or be the one standing next to the responsible master.

Some shipping companies have developed courses for all navigators on topics such as safe sailing, the use of chart machines, voyage planning and the keeping of deck log-books. These must be repeated regularly by everyone.