Safety Alert: Mooring launch crushed against the side of a container vessel

 

The aft mooring launch sat at the stern of a containership, waiting for the third line to be lowered to them.  Instead, the two lines that had been run ashore and were fast on the bollards were slackened off by the aft mooring team and dumped into the water. 

 

The launch tried to move away from the lines to avoid getting tangled.  When the launch was almost clear, the ship heaved up on the two lines again, only to catch the mooring launch, lifting it out of the water and crushing against the underside of the ship’s flare.

The launch crew were unable to get the crew’s attention despite prolonged shouting and use of their horn.  Finally, the ship’s after mooring crew realised what had happened and slackened off the lines.

The boat crew were severely shaken by the incident, but there were no injuries.  There was some damage to the mooring boat.

This incident and other learning can be found in the summer edition of the CHIRP (Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme)Ports and Harbours ‘Maritime Feedback’ edition. 

 

A COPY OF THE CHIRP SUMMER EDITION CAN BE FOUND HERE 

 

We are grateful to the CHIRP for providing details of the incident.  We acknowledge their commitment to sharing learning to benefit others.  If you have similar operations, please share this information with managers, operatives and any potentially affected third parties as appropriate.  Please also review any of your relevant operations for similar hazardous conditions, risks, and controls.  Learning content like this is highly valuable as it is based on real-world experience.  We encourage everyone with publishable information about incidents to send it to us, so that we can raise awareness across the whole industry.  Please contact us at secretariat@ichca.com; sharing your insight could save a life or prevent injury.