Page 40 - CHIRP annual digest 2016.pdf

CHIRP Maritime

passage plan approved by the Master (and clear to see on Article. 33
ECDIS) showed the course passing directly over the Nab Advisory Board Insight – Manoeuvring
Tower, which is clearly marked on the chart. Issues in a Seaway
A number of reports have reached CHIRP that have been
so similar in their outlines that the suspicion is that watch
officers are reaching conclusions about the circumstances
that have been wrong and have resulted in closer
encounters than would normally be considered accept -
able, hence the scenarios finding their way to the CHIRP
Marine Advisory Board. All such incidents are followed up
and usually explanations are provided that then reveal
viewpoints of the different parties. Sometimes this
requires further clarifica tion but usually a number of
conclusions can be reached at this relatively early stage.
The number of reports received that display similar
strategies however has prompted this article, in the hope
that lessons may be learned by as wide an audience as
possible.

Some typical scenarios are:
■ Slow moving, usually very large and encumbered
vessels being overtaken by faster, often similarly sized
vessels;
■ As above but further encumbered by draught restric -
tions and routing constraints;
■ Vessels of any size being overtaken by others of any
size but being exposed to potential collision by
the lack of appropriate action by the overtaking
vessel;
■ Multiple vessel situations where overtaking and/or
crossing vessels take inappropriate actions; and
■ Manoeuvres that pass too close to the other vessel.

The link between all of the above is the development from
a normal and relatively harmless situation to one that has
become critical, which often requires action to avoid
CHIRP Suggests collision of not only the give way vessel but also that
This is a good example of why some ports have com - which is required initially to stand on.
pulsory pilotage and shows the benefits of agreeing the
The scenarios that are described below are fictitious but
passage plan between the pilot and the Master.
are built on real reports. The situations are deliberately
For more information on ECDIS near misses please read anonymised but it is hoped will be sufficiently familiar to
CHIRP Maritime FEEDBACK 44. mariners to enable them to apply the principles discussed
to their own situations.
There was an apparent failure of the Safety Management
System and its implementation on board. Every passage Figure 1 is included to assist in the description. It is not to
plan should be checked, agreed by the Master and then scale and is completely fictitious whilst representing
signed off by all of the navigation officers. In this case this reported events. The shaded areas depicted are the
clearly did not happen. manoeuvring domains of the vessels, a concept that is

The above article was published in MFB45 explained later in the article.

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