Grounding of ro-ro passenger ferry Sardinia Vera

Location: Off Newhaven, England.

• From: Marine Accident Investigation Branch
• Published: 23 January 2015

• Vessel type: Merchant vessel 100 gross tons or over
• Report type: Investigation report
• Date of occurrence: 1 February 2002

Accident Investigation Report 32/2002

Read our marine accident investigation report, which includes what happened, actions taken and subsequent recommendations:

sardinia- vera.pdf (273.79 kb)

Summary

At 0851 UTC on 1 February 2002, the Italian-registered passenger ro-ro ferry Sardinia Vera ran aground at the entrance to Newhaven approach channel. The vessel was refloated at 1048 on the rising tide. There was minor damage to the vessel, no pollution and no injuries to persons.

Safety Issues

• the vessel failed to alter course as expected, probably for external reasons
• shallow water effect, because of the minimal underkeel clearance and speed over the ground, might have prevented the vessel from turning as expected
• the time between maintenance dredging operations progressively increased the amount of silting

Recommendations

Recommendations have been addressed to Newhaven Port.

This report was published in October 2002.

Published 23 January 2015