Grounding of container vessel Perth

Location: Entering Izmir Bay, Turkey.

Completed PE Summary: Perth

A short summary of the accident and action taken:

Merchant Vessel/Accident Details
Vessel Name Perth
Registered Owner/Manager All Ocean Charters 2 Limited, London
Port of Registry London
Flag UK
Type Container vessel
Built 1999
Classification Society Lloyd’s Register
Construction Steel
Length Overall 217.1m
Gross Tonnage 24836
Date/Time 08/11/2006, 1400
Location of Incident Coastal waters at Izmir, Turkey
Incident Type Grounding
Persons Onboard 22
Injuries/Fatalities None
Damage/Pollution None

 

Synopsis

In daylight and in good weather conditions, the container vessel Perth grounded whilst entering Izmir Bay, Turkey. The master had conduct of the vessel; the Officer of the Watch (OOW) was plotting the vessel’s position using GPS only, at the chart table. An AB was on the wheel.

The vessel had just steadied on a new course when the OOW plotted the position, which showed the vessel had in fact altered course earlier than planned and was heading for shallow water. The master ordered the wheel hard over and the vessel had just started to swing when it grounded on a bottom of soft mud.

Fortunately, the weather conditions remained favourable throughout the next 24 hours, before the vessel was refloated using salvage tugs. The vessel was fully surveyed and was found to be undamaged and able to continue, unconditionally, in service.

Action taken

The Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents has written to the ship’s managers strongly advising that they consider the early installation of a simplified voyage data recorder, to ensure that equipment such as ECDIS is maintained in a fully operational condition and ensure that the lessons learnt from this accident are fully promulgated to the bridge teams on all their vessels.


 

Updates to this page

Published 23 January 2015