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Back to SSG 10
Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström
Look out for 2-navigator vessels
There are about 20,000 vessels below 5,000 tons deadweight in the world merchant fleet. Of the vessels in this segment that trade in European waters, a majority is operated as 2-watch vessels, manned with two navigators working six hours on, six hours off, seven days a week. Studies show that these vessels are over-represented in casualty statistics, and this has been highlighted by the IMO.
April 26, 2007. In the early hours of the day, a coaster grounds off Brännö in the Southern archipelago of Göteborg. Luckily, the incident led to no harm for either people or environment. The accident is being investigated, but preliminary findings suggest that the major cause was fatigue.
November 24, 2005. The Honduras-flagged coaster Allora grounds in Lake Vänern after the master having fallen asleep. He had worked 18 hours that day and had been signed-on for six months, working in a six-hours-on-six-hours-off scheme, seven days a week.
These are just two examples of accidents involving vessels operated by two navigators, the master and a chief officer.
Prone to accidents
2-navigator vessels are more prone to accidents than other vessels. In 2003, the Swedish Maritime Safety Inspectorate conducted a study on 32 vessels involved in accidents in Swedish waters. Based on data from the accidents that occurred during 1997–2002, a “typical” fatigue related grounding/collision emerged. The vessel concerned had a tonnage of 1,000–4,000 GT and was built in the 1970’s. The vessel had a crew of 3–8 people. At the time of the accident, just one officer manned the bridge, and in half of the cases it was by the master. A dedicated helmsman was rarely used, and a lookout, if any, was engaged in work somewhere else than on the bridge. 2-navigator vessels were in a clear majority. 84 per cent of the accidents occurred in the night, between 23.00 and 08.00 and more than half between 04.00 and 08.00. The accidents also occurred in heavily trafficked areas.
A year later, the British Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) carried out a study on 66 accidents in British waters. 23 were groundings and in nine cases, fatigue was considered to be a contributing factor. Again, a study showed that 2-navigator vessels were overrepresented, as eight of the nine vessels were navigated only by the master and a chief officer.
On the IMO table
Led by Sweden and United Kingdom, the issue has been raised in IMO.
“Something has to be done”, says Johan Franson, head of the Swedish Maritime Safety Inspectorate and chairman of the IMO Council.
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“It’s not only a question of safety for the individual vessel, fatigued officers constitute a risk for all traffic and the environment” says Johan Fransson, head of the Swedish Maritime Safety Inspectorate and chairman of the IMO Council. |
“It’s not only a question of safety for the individual vessel, fatigued officers constitute a risk for all traffic and the environment”, says Franson.
He is also of the opinion that in some cases this is not only a safety issue, it also means a ruthless exploitation of crews.
Review of IMO guidelines
The MAIB report concluded that “manning levels, fatigue and a master’s ability to discharge his duties are major causal factors in collisions and groundings”. As a result, the MAIB recommended its “sister” authority, the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency, to demand a review of the IMO guidelines on safe manning to ensure that all merchant vessels over 500 GT have a minimum of a master and two navigational officers.
The 2-navigator issue has landed on the table of the IMO STW (Standards of Training and Watchkeeping) sub-committee. Sweden hopes for the introduction of a rest period log, to be kept on the vessels. This should be worked out in a way that makes it possible to compare the entered data with the information in the ship’s logbook. If a port state control officer (PSCO) finds discrepancies, this could be a cause for detention to give the crew a chance to sleep.
“This would be a way for port states and flag states to protect themselves from a safety risk”, says Franson. According to him, there have been a few cases in Sweden when a vessel has been detained on the grounds of apparent fatigue among the crew. A rest period log would however give the PSCO a better foundation for a decision to detain a vessel.
Controversial issue
If the operation of a vessel cannot be managed within the available working time limits, the shipowner/manager faces two options in practise: either to increase the number of crew or to relieve the crew from work tasks by handling them in the shore-based organisation.
The 2-navigator issue is controversial. Any suggestions on increased crew sizes are met by opposition from member states with large coaster fleets, as Germany, Holland and Denmark in Northern Europe. For smaller vessels, and especially older ones, manning costs constitute a major stake of the daily running costs, and mandatory rules on increased manning is seen as a competitive disadvantage for high labour cost countries.
There is also another aspect to consider when discussing increased manning of vessels. Each day, coasters by the thousands ply European waters. In these days of a looming officer shortage crisis, where to find the additional extra thousands of navigators needed to man the coasters?
As more and more information is gathered supporting the opinion that these vessels constitute a larger risk to maritime safety than other vessels, action must and will be taken.
It’s a complex issue, but whatever path the IMO chooses to follow, it will be at least a couple of years before a final decision is taken on how to tackle the 2-navigator safety problem.
//Rolf P Nilsson
Latest update 14-05-2007 14:00
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