Fishing Vessel Slams Into Container Ship As It was Fixing Gyrocompass While Underway

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Investigation into a collision accident between a containership and a fishing vessel that resulted in over $6 million in damages revealed that it was caused by a lack of timely maintenance and proper lookout, per National Transportation Safety Board findings.

Video Credits: IEN Magazine

The accident happened in October 2022 when MSC Rita was sailing southbound in the Atlantic, and the Tremont collided with it. As a result of the impact, the fishing vessel Tremont sank, though no injuries were reported, and the 13 people onboard were saved by other ships and a Coast Guard Helicopter.

NTSB blamed the Tremont for the collision after a shipmate said that he was trying to fix the gyrocompass at the time when the autopilot was switched on. The autopilot depends on the heading data from the gyrocompass, so adjusting it while underway led the Tremont to make a turn in the direction of the MSC Rita.

NTSB report mentioned that the accident happened due to simultaneous operations that can interfere with each other. The agency also outlined the importance of managing these operations well for the safety of the vessel and those sailing near it.

It added that sailors should identify such hazards before starting to work on equipment that might affect another, like sensors that send info to equipment onboard a vessel.

It was also found that the Tremont was using an outdated VHF system to signal for help. NTSB said that modern VHF systems have a feature of digital selective calling that alerts the search and rescue authorities and automatically sends the ship’s position with just the push of a button.

References: Yahoo, IEN

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