A Liberian liquefied gas carrier ran aground on Haisborough Sand off the coast of Norfolk earlier this year
A ship ran aground in the North Sea after
the officer on watch became distracted and lost positional awareness, finds a
report by the MAIB.
The 524ft Liberian liquefied gas carrier Navigator Scorpio had been off the coast
of Norfolk when it ran aground in restricted waters on Haisborough Sand.
An
investigation into the incident, which happened on 3 January, also found that
the passage plan was incomplete and that the effects of wind and strong tidal
streams had not been properly taken into account.
The sole
bridge watchkeeper become distracted from his lookout duties when he began undertaking passage planning and chart
corrections, causing him to miss the planned course change.
The report
said: “Given the proximity to danger, appropriate navigational techniques were
not applied and the bridge manning was insufficient.
“Additionally,
weaknesses in the crew’s navigation capability had been identified during an
audit of the vessel, however, follow up actions were not sufficient to prevent
this grounding.”
The vessel,
which had been heading to Scotland, was underway without a complete
berth-to-berth passage plan and when a potential hazard was identified, the
master failed to take effective action to avoid it.
The
investigation also found that after grounding, false information was added to
the chart.
Bernhard
Shulte Shipmanagement has taken a number of steps since the incident, including
conducting their own investigation and circulating the findings to other
vessels and additional training for Navigator
Scorpio’s crew.
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