Odfjell nr 3 - 2005.indd

Safety BulletinBy Toralf SørenesNavigation and CollisionsIn the October 2002 edition of Odfjellquarterly we wrote: There are in particularthree areas where we areexposed to very serious incidents:1 - explosions/fire in the cargo tank area,2 - engine room fires and 3 - navigationalincidents. Over the last year, cargotank explosions have been in focus bothinternationally and within our own company.Significant work has been done inthis area and we are confident that overtime positive results from these effortswill become visible.It is worrying to note that records ofseveral leading marine underwritersshow that collisions have surpassedengine room related damages as thesingle biggest contributor to theirclaims statistics. This trend continuesand clearly shows that navigation is anarea of growing concern. When lookinginto this development, a few commondenominators and questions are frequentlyseen. Increasing reliance on radarand technical sophisticated bridgeequipment may be a mixed blessing.A new phrase, “radar assisted collisions”has emerged and the good oldpractice of looking out of the windowseems to be loosing ground. Further,new and very precise navigation technologycontributes towards condensingsea borne traffic into the same laneson the same “motorways”. The worldfleet has expanded significantly, butthe traffic lanes have not. This rapidexpansion also creates shortage ofwell-trained and experienced seafarersand support personnel like pilots.This shortage is compensated by systemsand equipment, and many marineunderwriters see this as the main rootto the negative trend. Most collisionshappen at night, in areas whereinternational traffic mixes withlesser sophisticated local traffic. Rapidlyexpanding economies in the Far Eastare significantly boosting the volumeof traffic, making that region particularlyvulnerable. The intensity of modernvessel operation and the stressof navigating in heavily traffickedwaters in combination with an everincreasing paper burden will certainlynot lessen the strain on the seafarers.M/T NCC Madinah was recently involvedin a collision in the Far East, and this gaveus a reminder. The risk is very much realand consequences of even the smallestmisjudgement or inattention may besevere. NCC Madinah was outboundto sea from an Indonesian port whenshe collided with a smaller inboundtanker. The collision took place in a verynarrow part of a channel and bothships were under pilotage. In additionto significant damages to both ships,it caused one casualty and others wereseriously injured. NCC Madinah wasdetained for almost two months whileinvestigations were carried out. Theincident highlights the very shortdifference and distance there isbetween a very close situation and a realtragedy. In a previous article on the sametopic we mentioned communication,caution and awareness during navigationas key words. To this we can add on safetymargins. It is of crucial importance thatwe strictly observe these keywords.TMSA – A proactive way of doing thingsTMSA is an abbreviation for TankerManagement and Self Assessment.It is a new system developed by theOil Companies International MarineForum, OCIMF, as a tool to measure andimprove ship management systems.Two of its main elements are BestPractises and Key Performance Indicators,and most tanker operators includingourselves are in the process ofimplementing the TMSA system.Although our quality systems are goodand robust, gaps are found in certainareas. The most relevant areas areChange Management and Risk Assessment.The TMSA system is designed togradually take us from a reactive phasewhere we act on incidents and what hasalready happened into a more proactivephase where we assess even the smallestthings we do in a systematic mannerto avoid incidents and accidents fromhappening. This change from reactiveto proactive thinking will take time andbe a challenge to us all, so be prepared.Security –The 2005Annual ReviewOur Ship Security Plans (SSPs) have beenin operation for a little more than a yearnow and our first annual review hasbeen completed. Implementation of thesecurity code, ISPS, was a major task andwe met and overcame many hurdles,both internally and externally. We arehappy to see that our security system isgradually finding its place and becominga routine part of ships operations.With basis in the annual review, internalaudits and other relevant input, weare now in the process of revising ourSSPs to make them simpler and moreuser-friendly. At Risk Managementwe will take this opportunity to thankeverybody on board and ashore thathave contributed to a successful implementation.20 ODFJELL Quarterly October 2005