While navigating, don’t undertake any other tasks and use the alarms your equipment provides. The Nautical Institute gives this warning in its latest Mars Report, in which two vessel collided with each other in broad daylight.
The Nautical Institute gathers reports of maritime accidents and near-misses. It then publishes these so-called Mars (Mariners’ Alerting and Reporting Scheme) Reports (anonymously) to prevent other accidents from happening. This is one of these reports.
In daylight and good visibility, cargo vessel A was making about 12 knots with a lone officer of the watch (OOW) on the bridge. Auto-pilot was being used for helm control and the OOW was occupied with administrative tasks. The radar was on, but targets were not being acquired and alarms were not activated.
Meanwhile, about 5 nm away from vessel A, vessel B had recently stopped and was drifting due to technical difficulties with the main engine. This vessel’s lone OOW had not updated the vessel status to “not under command” (NUC) on the AIS, nor were the required NUC day signals raised. Vessel A maintained its course and speed, with a steady bearing and decreasing range to vessel B.
Over the next twenty minutes, vessel A’s OOW continued to undertake other duties on the bridge and was not monitoring nearby traffic. As vessel A approached the drifting vessel B on a virtual collision course, a crew member who had been working on deck ran to the bridge and alerted the OOW to the developing situation.
Still making a speed of 12 knots, the OOW immediately used the autopilot to initiate a turn to starboard before switching to hand steering to increase the rudder angle. However, the turn was not sufficient to avoid collision 10 seconds later. Vessel A’s port side struck vessel B’s starboard quarter, resulting in hull damage to both vessels above the waterline.
Also read: Another collision in daylight and good visibility
Investigation findings
The preliminary assessment found, among other things, that the ECDIS unit on both vessels was set to silent mode, with all audible alarms deactivated while underway. Also, although vessel B was visible on both of vessel A’s radars, the target had not been acquired on the ARPA.
Also read: Ships collide in daylight and good visibility
Advice from The Nautical Institute
- An OOW should actively navigate the vessel and not undertake any other tasks, ever!
- Activated alarms are an asset when at sea – use them.
- If your vessel’s navigational situation changes, set the appropriate instruments and signals to reflect this change in status.
Also read: Alarm fatigue: Up to 74 alarms on the ship’s bridge per hour
Mars Reports
This accident was covered in the Mars Reports, originally published as Mars 202435, that are part of Report Number 381. A selection of the Mars Reports are also published in the SWZ|Maritime magazine. The Nautical Institute compiles these reports to help prevent maritime accidents. That is why they are also published (in full) on SWZ|Maritime’s website.
More reports are needed to keep the scheme interesting and informative. All reports are read only by the Mars coordinator and are treated in the strictest confidence. To submit a report, please use the Mars report form.
