98037 Standards of Training

Standards of Training
Report No.

Own vessel, a 45,000grt container ship on passage from St John, New Brunswick to Livorno, almost fully laden and steaming at 19 knots. The incident occurred at 1945 local time (still daylight), the Senior 2nd Mate was on the 1600 - 2000 watch and we were 40 miles west of the Azores. At about 1920 I saw from my cabin window a ship approximately 15 degrees on my port side about 10 miles away. At 1940 I glanced out of my cabin window again and saw that this ship was still on my port side, crossing the bow but seemingly close!

I went straight to the bridge to ask the 2nd Mate what was going on. When I entered the bridge he had put the duty AB on the wheel and ordered port 20 wheel! By this time the other ship was about 2 miles away and 10 degrees on the port bow. Before I could take any action own ship swiftly started to swing to port and the other vessel was of course then on the starboard bow and passing clear. With the other ship astern of us we resumed our course.

It is written in my Standing Orders that, when we are deep sea, we are not to pass any other vessels closer than 5 miles. My 2nd Mate has been in that rank for about 8 years and has a STCW revalidated Class 3 Certificate of Competency issued by the U.A.E. He told me that the target's CPA was 0.6 miles and, since we were the stand-on vessel he had not done anything until the other ship was 2 miles away.

I was able to read the name of the other ship and I called on VHF. I asked the OOW if he realised that he was the giving way vessel and that we had nearly had a collision. He said to me that if I had been looking at my radar, I would see that the CPA had been 0.6 miles. I asked him if he considered a CPA of 0.6 miles to be necessary and safe when we were in the middle of the Atlantic. There was silence for a couple of minutes and then he said "no, not really".

What has left me feeling so let down and shocked is that two responsible (not unreasonable to expect) watchkeeping officers (other ship and mine) had both together managed to behave so badly. My 2nd Mate could not explain why he had let the situation get to such close quarters, even if he was the stand on vessel, without calling me. I was also somewhat shocked (to put it politely) that he had then altered course to port! God knows what would have happened if the other ship had then altered his course to starboard.

What has gone so terribly wrong with IMO standards of certification as set down in STCW that two Officers of completely different nationalities, with Certificates of Competency issued from opposite sides of the world, could collectively demonstrate such a fundamental lack of understanding and application of basic Rule of the Road and appreciation of the basic rules of good seamanship. My 2nd Mate is leaving at the next port, what standard of replacement will I get?