Safety Alert: Fatal injury to cargo surveyor during hatch closing

On 24 January 2025, Ocean Century was preparing to load steel products at Hapo General Wharf, Gwangyang, South Korea. The vessel had arrived the previous evening. Cargo holds were cleaned, and residual cargo collected in drums.

On the morning of the accident, the deck crew opened the hatch covers and removed the stored drums. The bunker/cargo surveyor left the ship’s office, after meeting with the chief engineer, the master, and the P&I representative.

Shortly after, one of the crew members proceeded to the hold no. 2 hatch cover control station, to close the hatch cover. An electro-technical officer discovered the surveyor, fatally trapped between the aft part of cargo hold hatch cover no. 2 and the hatch coaming.

Conclusions and lessons

crew members operating the hatch cover lacked direct visibility of the aft section and the local control station’s position and design limited the operator’s field of view, making it difficult to detect any obstructions to the moving cargo hold hatch covers.
no implemented mandatory visual inspections, communication protocols, or assigned personnel to oversee the entire closing process of the cargo hold hatch cover.
warning and cautionary signs may have been missed due to familiarity and cognitive overload.
the SMS procedure for opening and closing of the cargo hold hatch cover was not referred to on board and not communicated to other persons boarding the ship.
there was no technical failure of the cargo hold hatch cover system which could have contributed to the accident.

Probable cause

The bunker / cargo surveyor sustained fatal injuries after becoming trapped between the closing cargo hold hatch cover and the cargo hold hatch coaming.

ICHCA notes

Readers are likely to find a gap between documented safety controls (work as imagined) and actual practice on deck (work as done) a familiar conclusion. Organisations have, rightly, put considerable effort into implementing their SMSs. However, leaders need to ensure that those doing the operation understand and have bought into the importance of getting it right. Leaders also need to ensure that those people visiting the workplace are made aware of risks and control measures that might affect them.

The report of this incident was published by the Transport Malta Maritime Safety Investigation Unit. The images and content are copyright Transport Malta unless otherwise stated: https://msiu.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/MV-Ocean-Century_Final-Safety-Investigation-Report.pdf

Amanda Cooper2026-03-03T11:44:07+00:00March 3rd, 2026|