Grounding of general cargo vessel BBC Marmara
Location: Eilean Trodday in the Little Minch, Scotland.
Accident Investigation Report 8/2023
Read our marine accident investigation report, which includes what happened, subsequent actions taken and recommendations:
Summary
At 0332 on 25 July 2021, the cargo vessel BBC Marmara ran aground on the island of Eilean Trodday while transiting the Little Minch, off the west coast of Scotland. The vessel was on passage from Foynes, Republic of Ireland to Scrabster, Scotland. It was refloated successfully and then proceeded to the port of Stornoway, where a dive inspection confirmed significant damage to the forward part of the vessel’s hull that included penetration of the bow thruster space and forepeak tanks. A port state inspection granted permission for BBC Marmara to sail to Scrabster to offload cargo before proceeding to a dry dock in Poland for repairs.
Safety issues
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removal of safeguards such as lookout, Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm System (BNWAS) and coastguard interventions meant that, after the vessel diverged from the planned track when the watchkeeper fell asleep, the grounding could not be prevented
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the watchkeeper had been drinking before, and on taking, the watch; abuse of alcohol was tolerated by senior officers and events leading up to the grounding were indicative of a lack of responsibility at every level of management on board
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the vessel traffic management operator had become distracted by another task because they had neither received training nor had sufficient processes to manage the hazard of distraction interfering with the role
Recommendations
Recommendations (2023/112 and 2023/113) were made to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to increase organisational knowledge of cognitive performance and to plan accordingly.
Further recommendations (2023/114 and 2023/115) were made to Briese Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG to ensure that a lookout is on the bridge in times of darkness, and to implement management assurance tools that will provide accurate feedback on the effectiveness of its safety management system.
Related publications
A safety flyer to the shipping industry was produced with this report to summarise common themes from MAIB investigations where navigational safeguards had been circumvented.