201407 Tug 1 - Fairlead 0
The vessel was approaching the berth under the pilotage. One tug boat was made fast on the starboard shoulder, forward of another tug boat that was already made fast through the Panama fairlead on the starboard quarter. For the docking, it was necessary for the vessel to swing, head into the wind, and back to dock port side to berth. Recorded winds were Southerly 21-27 knots and the main engines were stopped.
The pilot instructed the tug boat that was made fast through the Panama fairlead to square up and pull. The tug boat did pull the ship, but not as per the pilot’s instructions, causing the Panama chock on the starboard quarter to be uprooted. The vessel’s forward and aft mooring fittings had an indicated safe working load (SWL) of 45 MT and those of the main deck 24 MT. The maximum bollard pull of the tug boat was 60 MT.
The incident caused considerable damage, with the Panama fairlead detached from the deck plating, an air vent pipe detached from deck mounting, the accommodation stay side frame and plating buckled, the poop deck plate buckled in way of sheared Panama fairlead, internal transverse bulkhead and one bracket buckled, side shell plating bent at the upper edge and adjacent guard rails on the starboard poop deck damaged.
Root causes
1 Failure to follow instructions: The tug boat Master did not follow pilot’s instructions.
2 Incorrect use of equipment: Rendering capacity of the tug rope used for the pull up was much higher than the SWL of the fairlead.
3 Adverse sea/weather conditions: Weather was bad, sea was rough, and wind was brisk. The incident also took place during night hours. The bad weather may have contributed to incorrect handling of the
vessel.
4 Inadequate supervision. Since the tug boat was using a line with strength considerably higher than the SWL of the deck fittings, the officer on deck should have alerted the Master.
Corrective actions
All vessels in the fleet advised to undertake a risk assessment specifically for mooring operations with tug assistance and use the lessons learned from this incident.
Editor’s note: Although not common, mooring equipment damage of this nature does occur with a frequency that may surprise some. Powerful tugs can exert extreme forces on a vessel’s gear. In this case the fairlead came through the incident without any apparent deformation even though it tore loose from the deck; a testament to its indicated
SWL. However, its attachment to the deck may have been less than the rated SWL and may be an area for further investigation.
