Page 10 - CHIRP Annual Digest 2017

CHIRP Maritime

2012, which are a replacement of equipment and arrange- her side makes the usually hazardous pilot transfer operation
ments provided on ships before 1 July 2012, shall, in so far even more dangerous. As far as I know “IMPA Required Arrange-
as is reasonable and practicable, comply with the require- ments for Pilot” demand at least 6 metres of unobstructed ship
ments of this regulation”. side at the pilot access point, yet on this ship there is a gap
in the belt no longer than 1.5 metres. In cases of swell and/or
MV xxx cannot meet the 5 metres height objective of the bad weather the belt can significantly affect the pilot boat per-
new SOLAS regulation between drafts of 11.35 metres formance and increase the risk. This is a design issue.
and 12.45 metres (i.e. heavily loaded). Even if the vessel
achieves a platform height of 5 metres, the hazardous con- CHIRP Comment
dition will depend on the size of the pilot boat (which can CHIRP made several attempts to contact the third party ship
range from a small launch to a very large harbor tug). manager, who declined to respond. The Maritime Advisory
Board agreed that the boarding arrangements were non-com-
Our crews on this series of vessels are aware of the chal- pliant to the latest SOLAS amendments. They noted that the 6
lenges at heavy load (deep draft) and are requested to work metres clearance was designed to give a pilot boat sufficient
with the pilots to ensure safe boarding. scope to come alongside and drop back. In this case the pilot
boat could easily ride up under the “belt” in inclement weather
Hope the above satisfactorily addresses the raised concern. conditions, and since there is no flexibility for movement of the
pilot ladder, this creates a very hazardous condition.
CHIRP Comment
The Maritime Advisory Board, whilst noting some of the sim-
ilarities with the first report in terms of draft and access via
accommodation ladder, focused their attention on the stated
“poor conditions” for boarding. It was observed that the stand-
ard green to green passing was changed to red to red, although
it was agreed that this could be perfectly acceptable depending
upon the onward movements of the inbound and outbound ves-
sels. The Board specifically commented that in any pilot board-
ing, notwithstanding any advice or request from the pilot, the
pilot boat or the local Vessel Traffic Service, the Master of vessel
holds the sole responsibility for the safe navigation of his/her
vessel and this should include consideration of an abort, (which
should form a part of the passage planning process). Similarly,
a pilot should not feel pressured to board and should abort a A new build passenger vessel with non-compliant SOLAS
boarding when conditions are considered too hazardous. boarding arrangements
The above article was published in MFB 46

Article. 02

Safety when handling tugs

OUTLINE: CHIRP has received a number of reports relat-
ing to communication and procedures when handling tugs
and during mooring operations. Two high risk incidents are
detailed below.

What the reporter told us (1)
The assisting tugs in this East African port utilize vessel-pro-
vided lines when docking and undocking. The docking pilots
routinely ask for the best line and then wait while the tugs
make fast. Communication with the tugs – when making
Typical boarding arrangement for this type of vessel fast, letting go or working the vessel – is generally conducted
in Swahili. While making fast, particularly on departure, the
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– – – – – – – – – – – – – – Report Ends tugs take a heavy strain on the line as it is paid out to them,
and there is much screaming from the tug for “Slack, slack!”
OUTLINE: The final report in this section outlines how the The vessel will be instructed to make fast the line while the
latest SOLAS pilot arrangements as per IMO Assembly tug is still moving away from the vessel, and there is still a
Resolution 1045(27) – see the comment under the first heavy strain on the line. This type of evolution puts crew
report - were not incorporated into a new build. members involved at risk of serious injury.
What the reporter told us While this situation was last observed on 28 December
Due to her recent construction (2015) one might think safety 2016, it has been witnessed by the reporter for at least the
features would be carefully addressed, but a raised belt along past 7 years.
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