Grounding Case Study

Introduction

North’s loss prevention guide Rocks and Hard Places: How to Avoid Them includes a series of case studies intended to generate discussion about circumstances surrounding grounding and fixed and floating object damage incidents. Further case studies will Further case studies will be published in Signals from time to time and below is the latest of them. Each case study is set out as simply as possible, with the minimum information necessary to describe a situation. The case studies ask a number of questions but answers are not provided. The case studies are intended to promote wide-ranging discussions on the avoidance of groundings and damage to property.

Scenario

A small tanker was on route from Northern Europe to ports in the Mediterranean Sea. The passage plan was prepared by a junior officer on the ECDIS without supervision. The passage plan was not checked by either the Master or Second Officer prior to commencing the voyage. The Chief Officer took over the watch from the Second Officer but made no check of the passage plan. At around 02:30 the vessel grounded in the West bound traffic lane of the English Channel at the position shown on the chart extract.

Questions

1. What factors may have contributed to this grounding incident?

2. What steps could have been taken on board to prevent this incident from occurring?

3. What steps could the company take to prevent similar incidents occurring in the future?

Further Information

Members can obtain electronic versions of North’s loss prevention guide Collisions: How to avoid them by e-mailing loss.prevention@nepia.com To obtain hard copies of North’s Guides, please download the Loss Prevention Order Form from our website: www.nepia.com/ lp-publications.