Tragedy was “only avoided by the very narrowest of margins” in a collision between an Irish fishing vessel and an oil tanker in the south Irish Sea in August 2023, the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) says.
Its report says that the standard of look-out on both vessels was “wholly inadequate and is the root cause of the collision”.
The incident occurred on August 6th, 2023 when fishing vessel 16.8 metre Excel, which had left Dunmore East, Co Waterford the day before with four crew on board, was hauling gear from a second trawl in the Smalls fishing ground area.
Fishing vessel Excel
At around 2200 hours, the fishing skipper observed the motor vessel (MV) Petrel Pacific, a 182.9 metre oil chemical tanker registered in Singapore, approximately five nautical miles (NM) to the east of his position.
MV Petrel Pacific was on laden passage from Milford Haven to the US when at approximately 21.43 hrs the third officer plotted FV Excel on radar, with an initial Closest Point of Approach (CPA) of 0.77 NM.
MV Petrel Pacific
At around 22.05 hrs the third officer was called from the bridge by the ship’s master to complete some paperwork in the chartroom - at this time the CPA with FV Excel was 0.06 NM.
An able bodied seaman (AB) was left alone on the bridge to keep watch. At approximately 22.18 hrs FV Excel increased speed to 7.0 knots to begin shooting nets.
Onboard MV Petrel Pacific, at around 22.21 hrs, the third officer returned to the bridge and observed that a close quarters situation had developed with FV Excel. He called the master to the bridge and at 22.22 hrs the bow of FV Excel impacted with the port quarter of MV Petrel Pacific.
After the collision the skipper of FV Excel issued a Very High Frequency (VHF) MAYDAY call. Both vessels stopped and conducted damage assessments.
After determining no water ingress or crew injuries, FV Excel returned to Dunmore East and MV Petrel Pacific proceeded to anchor at Saint Brides Bay awaiting a classification society survey.
The MCIB report says that “prior to considering the causes of the collision, it is important to first highlight how serious the marine casualty could have been”.
“A speed of seven knots equates to covering a distance of approximately 216 miles per minute. If the skipper of FV Excel had increased his vessel’s speed around one minute earlier, FV Excel may have crossed the bow of MV Petrel Pacific which advanced with a speed of around 13 knots,”it says.
“ It is unlikely that FV Excel would have remained afloat if the bow of MV Petrel Pacific had impacted with her midships section, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the fishing vessel’s crew,”it says.
“No avoiding action was taken onboard MV Petrel Pacific, and the master was unaware of FV Excel until C-16 seconds. Tragedy was only avoided by the very narrowest of margins,”it says.
Criticising the standard of look-out on both vessels as “wholly inadequate”, the report says that there was a “collective departure on both vessels from the maintenance of a proper look-out”, which led to a loss of situational awareness.
“Onboard MV Petrel Pacific, the master prioritised completing documents over and above maintaining a proper look-out, with the officer off the watch leaving the bridge at C-17 when the CPA with FV Excel was already reduced to 0.06 NM,” it says.
“In addition, the able-bodied look-out may have been distracted in conversation. Onboard FV Excel, from C-22 onwards, the skipper and crew gave their full attention to fishing operations as opposed to maintaining a proper, or any, look-out,” it says.
“ By increasing his speed at C-7 the Skipper set-up a collision, when otherwise there would potentially have been a near miss,”it says.
The report says that two Irish nationals, the skipper and first crew member on the fishing vessel, gave only limited co-operation to the inquiry and “ it has not been possible to fully verify details of their experience and qualifications”.
Two Indonesian nationals were employed as deckhand as part of the Atypical Working Scheme (AWS) for non-EEA Crew in the Irish fishing fleet established in 2016,it says.
The ship’s master had worked on oil tankers for 16 years, with seven years command experience as master.
Records were provided that showed that at the time of the collision the three crew had received rest periods in accordance with 2010 Manila Amendments to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) Code.
The regulations require a minimum of ten hours rest in any 24 hour period and 77 hours in any seven day period.
The report issues a series of recommendations to the fishing vessel, the oil tanker and to the Minister for Transport.
It says the Minister for Transport should issue a Marine Notice with the findings of this report to ensure Irish flagged vessels are aware of this incident and the requirement to ensure a proper look-out is maintained at all times, and that navigation lights on fishing vessels are not obscured by deck lights.
It also says the minister should consider issuing a Marine Notice reminder, referencing No. 27 of 2023, given that it was only issued in April 2023, four months prior to the incident, but was in effect ignored by the owner and skipper of the FV Excel.
“That Marine Notice was important in reminding fishing vessel owners and operators of the great importance of safety and risk assessments, that a hazards identification process should be carried out in respect of operations, that a risk assessment should be carried out in respect of hazardous operations, and that method statements should be compiled for all hazardous activities on fishing vessels and kept under active review,”it says.
“The Marine Notice should also emphasise the importance of ensuring that the risk assessments and methodology are communicated fully and effectively to all relevant crew, involving interpreters if required,”the report says.
The full report is here
