In the early morning hours, a loaded tanker with seven metres of freeboard was approaching port at about 6.5 knots. There was a light wind and seas of approximately 1 metre. Visibility was good, but it was still dark; sunrise was in about one hour and 45 minutes.

The vessel was preparing to load a cargo of timber. The ship’s crew were arranging the stanchions on the ship side that would be used for the timber stow on deck.

A vessel’s lifeboat with crew on board was being lowered to the water when the remote control lowering wire suddenly parted. Poor winch wire spooling under the outer layers led to a wire kink, creating a weak spot that contributed to the wire failure.

A bulk carrier was underway and the crew were cleaning cargo holds in preparation for the next loading port. The bosun and four deck crew began by moving a ‘mucking winch’ to the sludge hatch of one of the cargo holds.

Crew on a bulk carrier in port were planning a transfer of heavy fuel oil from a storage tank to fuel oil settling tank no.1 (FOST-1). The fourth engineer and an oiler were tasked with this job.

The main engine on a bulk carrier was switched over to very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) to comply with regulations. Once the engine was operating on VLSFO, the sludge discharge line of the oil separator frequently clogged, generating a ‘separator fail’ alarm on the alarm panel.

A general cargo vessel was loading scrap metal using a shore grab. Although the cargo declaration specified ‘scrap metal’, in practice there were other elements of refuse in the scrap metal stockpile.

Container ship under way was stopped and drifting at sea due to port congestion at the next destination. The OOW was supported by another crewmember as lookout.

On July 12, 2021, the bulk carrier Jalma Topic was transiting upriver on the Lower Mississippi River when it lost steering and struck a stationary barge that was being used for office space. No injuries were reported.