Monthly Safety Scenario
September 2013
Leaking cargo hatch
It was late November and the vessel was loading
grain in a port on the west coast of the US with
China as its destination. Before loading began,
the cargo holds had been inspected and passed
by the loading port cargo inspector. The crew
had also covered all the cargo hold’s bilge well
steel covers with burlap and they had carried out
a water hose test of the cargo hatches to ensure
that they were watertight. This means that they
sprayed pressurised fire hoses at the hatches
to simulate waves hitting the cargo hatch. No
water was found in the cargo hold after the fire
hose test.
During loading it started to rain for a couple of
hours. The master ordered the cargo hatches to
be secured, which the crew and stevedores did
quickly. When the rain had stopped the cargo
hatches were opened again.
The master did not think it would be necessary
to write anything on the bill of lading about the
rain. He signed the bill of lading when loading
finished the next day. On completion, all cargo
holds were reportedly fumigated and afumigation certificate was issued to the vessel. The cargo
hatches were also sealed with Ram-nek tape.
The charterer who had arranged weather
routing informed the master that there were a
couple of depressions and severe storms in the
pacific and advised the vessel to take a southerly
route to avoid the heavy northwesterly swells and
very strong winds. The master chose the advised
southerly route. After 3 days the vessel suddenly
encountered heavy weather conditions with
northerly winds up to 10 beaufort.
The vessel was pounding heavily into the
waves and also pitched and rolled heavily, the
waves washed over the decks and the Ram-nek
tapes were washed away. The master chose to
take an even more southerly route. After two
days the storm finally passed.
When the cargo hatches were opened in the
discharge port traces of seawater were found on
the inner hatch coaming plating of hold 1 & 2,
which were the two most forward holds. It was
obvious that the cargo had suffered wet
damage as some of the cargo had already started
to mould. The damaged cargo was just below the
cargo hatch and mostly on the starboard side.
A surveyor came on board the vessel and did a
thorough inspection of the vessel’s hatch covers,
rubber gaskets, closing devices, non–return valves
and ventilators, hatch access and double drainage
channels. In order to verify the weathertightness
of the hatch covers, an ultrasonic test was done
and it showed that the cross-joints between the
forward and aft hatch panels were leaking on
cargo hold 1.
The advantage of using the ultrasonic test is
that it can be carried out at any stage of loading
without risking cargo damage and also an
assessment can be done in sub-zero temperatures.
In addition a chalk test was carried out and no
chalk marks were found on a couple of sections
on the gasket for cargo hold 2. It was revealed
that no contact existed between the compression
bars and rubber gaskets on the inspected
cross-joint panels. A gasket can be expected to
last for about four to five years. If the gasket is
damaged the affected area should not just be
repaired but the entire section should be replaced.
The other cargo holds were okay and the cargo
was discharged without any further problems.
.
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Discussion
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1. What are the immediate causes of this accident?
2. Is there a chain of error?
3. Is our SMS enough to prevent accidents like this?
4. Are there SMS procedures for what inspections are required to ensure that the hatches
are in proper condition?
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5. How often are inspections of the cargo hold completed?
6. What maintenance is required for the cargo hatches or other vital cargo equipment?
7. How often are the cargo hatches inspected and by whom?
8. Are the hatches, gaskets and coamings inspected during every loading and discharge?
9. Do we have a risk assessment onboard that addresses these risks?
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10. What do you think is the root cause of this accident?
11. Are ultrasonic tests done?
12. Is there a risk that this accident could happen on our vessel?
13. How could this accident have been prevented?
Monthly Safety Scenario
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