Grounding of container vessel Berit
Location: Trindelen Bank near Gedser, Denmark.
Accident Investigation Report 17/2006
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Summary
At 0147 on 5 January 2006, the UK registered container vessel Berit grounded on the Trindelen bank, off Gedser in the Baltic Sea. She was on passage from St Petersburg to Rotterdam, via the Kiel Canal. The master managed to refloat the ship after about an hour using the ship’s own propulsion.
Safety Issues
- second officer failed to make an alteration of course in accordance with the navigational plan
- second officer was distracted for over 40 minutes prior to the grounding, missing the required waypoint
- there was evidence, from Berit’s hours of rest records, that lookouts were often not used during the hours of darkness, and this had been highlighted in the last MCA ISM audit in December 2005
- too great a reliance was placed on the basic information provided by the electronic chart system and the full functionality of the system was not employed
- there was no active management of the use of mobile telephones while on the bridge
- the ISM system had failed to detect either the poor navigational practices or the frequent absence of a lookout at night
Recommendations
A recommendation has been made to the managers of Berit to review their ISM system to ensure that navigational practices, training with ECS and the use of mobile telephones and other personal electronic equipment are addressed.
This report was published on 6 July 2006.