A RoRo vessel was in port and crew were loading trailers. A Terberg tractor unit was used to pull 40-foot trailers onto the vessel and to place them in position for the voyage. The Nautical Institute describes the accident that ensued in a new Mars Report.
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.
Once in position, the trailers are secured for transit. The Terberg tractor, a four-wheel drive truck type often referred to as a Tugmaster, is a specialised piece of equipment where the driver can rotate the seat through 180 degrees to face the direction of travel. In this instance, the Tugmaster used the port side ramp from deck three to deck five. On deck five, the load was reversed into position with a crew member guiding the driver.
The driver had restricted vision when reversing due to the size of the trailer. The guide used a whistle to signal to the tractor driver that the load was in position. The safety procedures called for the guide to position himself on the right-hand side of the load, standing in the safety zone provided by the adjacent ventilator shaft.
As the driver reversed, he had to place his head out of the side window of the tractor to maximise his range of vision. His seat was rotated to face aft and he reported that he did not hear the whistle telling him to stop. There were no other factors identified that could have distracted the driver from his task of placing the trailer in position.
Something caused the crew member guiding, an experienced seafarer, to move directly behind the load he was directing into place. He was crushed and died from his injuries. The investigation found, among other, that the victim’s blood alcohol level was significant.
Also read: Crew member nearly crushed while loading ferry
Advice from The Nautical Institute
- Loading trailers is a particularly hazardous job under the best of conditions. Several deaths have occurred on RoRo carriers while undertaking guiding operations. Having an elevated blood alcohol level while guiding a load is a ridiculously foolhardy gesture that the victim paid for with his life.
Also read: Crushing fatality while moving pontoon tweendeck
Mars Reports
This accident was covered in the Mars Reports, originally published as Mars 202546. 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.
Picture: Example of a vehicle deck on board a ferry (photo by Ulflarsen Wikimedia Commons/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International licence).
Also read: Lack of physical barriers results in dredger’s master being crushed between crane and cargo hold
