During the night, the tugs BB Ocean and Normand Drott have arrived at the Eemslift Hendrika, reports the Norwegian Coast Guard. The ship has been adrift off the Norwegian coast since Monday evening 5 April....Read more
The Nautical Institute stresses that every mariner has a duty to report unsafe conditions. In one of the Institute’s recent Mars reports, a pilot spotted some obvious unsafe conditions concerning safety lines and made a...Read more
Asking the question is answering it and Murphy’s law supports it. Could we make the Ever Given grounding in the Suez Canal a rare event? Understanding what likely happened would be the first step. Relevant...Read more
The Dutch Safety Board has recommended the Panamanian, German and Dutch Government to submit a proposal to the International Maritime Organization to review the technical requirements imposed on container ships. Such a review could help...Read more
A near miss with a handrail collapsing while a pilot was disembarking has driven The Nautical Institute to pay attention to this piece of equipment in its latest Mars Reports. ‘Handrails are an essential safety...Read more
‘Proper training would include the execution of the task while under supervision.’ The Nautical Institute gives this advice after a crew member on board a tanker suffered a facial injury due to not executing a...Read more
Fires on board giant container ships often have devastating consequences. However, firefighting requirements as set by SOLAS and STCW are yet to catch up with the current sizes of these ships, according to Nick Haslam,...Read more
External teams working on board should be supervised by experienced crew to prevent potential unsafe acts. The Nautical Institute issues this warning in a recent Mars Report in which a member of a security team...Read more
Sometimes, safety equipment itself can be a hazard, argues The Nautical Institute after a crew member suffered an injury on board a cargo vessel. In this case, open half-links were used to support the safety...Read more
Once again a large container ship has lost a large number of containers in heavy weather. This time it was the Maersk Essen, which lost some 750 containers in the middle of the North Pacific.Read more
Every time you assume an action will be taken by another party without verifying directly with them, the door to a potential accident is opened, says The Nautical Institute. A recent Mars Report illustrates the...Read more
Despite a supporting rope on one of the four fenders breaking, a terminal still wanted a ship-to-ship transfer to continue. The Nautical Institute discusses the situation in a recent Mars Report and stresses safety should...Read more
An overload of work processes can contribute to losing situational awareness. The Nautical Institute emphasises this point in a recent Mars Report. In it, a ferry ended up with a ten-metre tear in its hull...Read more
Two crew members standing in the lifting danger zone suffered injuries during loading of wind turbine tower sections after being struck by a parting sling. The incident is discussed by The Nautical Institute, which stresses...Read more
Time and again groundings from storm anchorages occur because too much time was lost before lifting anchor and putting to the open sea. The Nautical Institute warns about such practices in a recent Mars Report,...Read more
Some spaces, although not officially an enclosed space, can still act as one. In a recent Mars Report, a crew member died after entering a bow thruster compartment alone. The Nautical Institute stresses rescue operations...Read more
When two ships tried to steer clear of each other near a curve in a narrow channel, one of them made bottom contact. The Nautical Institute discusses this incident in a recent Mars Report and...Read more
A master and pilot need to have a mutually understood docking plan. The Nautical Institute discusses a case in which master and pilot were not “on the same page” resulting in USD 3.7 million in...Read more
A loose wire sling nearly caused a crew member to fall off a gangway. The Nautical Institute discusses this incident in one of its latest Mars Reports to draw attention to hidden hazards and the...Read more
The automatic identification system (AIS) is a valuable tool that shares critical vessel information with other vessel operators. However, its usefulness depends on accurate data entry. In a recent Mars Report, not entering the vessel’s...Read more
