A recent Marine Notice from the Department of Transport draws attention to the recent report by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) on an incident involving a fishing vessel in Dingle last year.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, it was found that an incorrectly designed electrical system on the French-registered FV Bikain was the main cause of a serious collision with a pontoon in Dingle Harbour which caused extensive damage on 25 November 2022.
It was established that the design of the electrical system necessitated that emergency batteries were required to be in use at all times for the operation of the vessel, but emergency batteries should only be used for emergency situations when the main power supply fails.
The MCIB has made the following recommendations to owners:
- A list of critical systems should be carried onboard vessels with a maintenance and testing schedule included for each critical system or piece of equipment.
- Records of test and maintenance should be retained onboard.
- Sufficient spares should be carried onboard to enable repair of a vessel’s critical systems in the event of failure.
- Any failure of critical systems should be reported immediately, and a thorough investigation carried out to identify the root cause.
