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Fatigue Management News

27 Jan 2023

Fatigue Led to OSV Striking GoM Production Platform -NTSB

​​​Elliot Cheramie underway before the contact (left) and the oil and gas production platform EI-259A before the contact. (Sources: Cheramie Marine (left); Cox Operating (right))​​

Crew fatigue led to an offshore supply vessel striking an oil and gas production platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2021, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday.The offshore supply vessel (OSV) Elliot Cheramie was on its normal route between Port Fourchon, La. and the oil and gas production platform VR-397A in the Gulf of Mexico on June 25, 2021, with a crew of four and five offshore workers. While transiting, the Elliot Cheramie struck the oil and gas production platform EI-259A.

16 Nov 2021

DIGITALIZATION: Keeping Your (hull) Stress and Fatigue Under Control

Image courtesy Light Structures

Digitalization is expediting and maximizing the safety and economics of structural stress and fatigue measurement technologies. Terje Sannerud, Chief Commercial Officer at Norwegian fiber optic condition monitoring system developer Light Structures explains.Yet to be mandated by the IMO or included in any SOLAS regulations, structural stress and fatigue monitoring systems have in fact been used for providing real-time safety warnings on large and specialist vessels for more than two decades.

14 Jul 2021

Connectivity Key to Seafarer Welfare, Inmarsat Sponsored Report says

Inmarsat sponsored a new report which explores the future of seafaring to 2050, a report that offers not just insights on connectivity, rather recommendations on how shipping, training institutions and welfare services can respond to the changing needs of tomorrow’s seafarers.Dubbed ‘A fair future for seafarers?’, the report was prepared by maritime consultancy Thetius. While published as the world still struggles with the impact of COVID-19, the report suggests epidemics and pandemics may become more common…

16 Apr 2019

Maritime Fatigue: Just another band aid?

Š Igor Kardasov/Adobe Stock

On 24 January, the IMO issued updated guidelines on fatigue. This is just another in a long series of band aids that attempt to cover over the problem without providing a solution. Fatigue is a long-standing weakness in the maritime industry. It is recognized as a major or contributing causal factor in the majority of maritime casualties. As is well-known, fatigue is caused by a lack of sleep and relaxation. These, in turn, are the result of too few people being tasked with too much work. Guidance on how to recognize and manage fatigue is meaningless.

25 Feb 2016

Safe Cruising Down Under with Australian Reef Pilots

Pilot launch “MALU MAI” with Carnival Australia cruise ship Pacific Dawn in the background. Photo credit: Australian Reef Pilots Pty Ltd.

According to the Australian Reef Pilots (ARP), Australia is now the fourth biggest cruise market in the world. Part of the boom in cruising has to do with more specialty cruise ships coming to the region. The smaller size cruise ship segment seems purpose-designed to transit the remote waters of the Kimberley coast. However, larger-vessel cruise companies are now expressing interest in touring this remote and rugged north-west region as well as the Great Barrier Reef. In fact, the number of cruise ships using ARP’s services has increased by more than 89 percent since 2010.

27 Feb 2014

200 SOLASAFE Screens for Hyundai Containerships

Hyundai Hope under construction at Daewoo Shipyard in Okpo, Korea. The first vessel in a series of four, she will be delivered in March 2014

South Shields based Solar Solve Marine received an order from Korea for four ship-sets of its SOLASAFE roller sunscreens. The screens are to be installed at the navigation bridge windows of four very large container carriers currently under construction at Daewoo’s DSME Okpo shipyard on Geoje Island. With a length of 366 mts, a beam of 48.8 mts and depth of 30 mts the vessels will all be 152,700 dwt., and whilst not the biggest in the world, they will still be classed as mega carriers with a maximum capacity of around 13,100 teu.

27 Nov 2013

'Guardians of the Reef' Win Australian Accolade

Image courtesy of ARP

Australian Reef Pilots (ARP) popularly known as 'Guardians of the Reef' and the country's leading pilotage company has won a national accolade for its work to protect one of the planet’s most sensitive and treasured areas – the Great Barrier Reef. ARP picked up this year’s esteemed Australian Shipping and Maritime Industry Award (Safe Transport Category). Chief Executive Officer Simon Meyjes said the award recognised ARP’s unique world-class Safety Management System (SMS).“Our SMS gives access to real-time information on pilot schedules…

12 Nov 2013

U.S. vs. MLC: Work, Rest & Documentation

The Maritime Labor Convention of 2006 (MLC 2006) is now in force – although not here in the United States. How much different is what happens on MLC compliant ships from what transpires on U.S.-based, domestic workboats? The Maritime Labor Convention of 2006 (MLC 2006) came into effect on August 20, 2013. Globally, the new rule impacts many aspects of how seafarers are treated, working conditions and a myriad of less well defined requirements that leave some operators scratching their heads to figure out. The United States has not ratified the Code and probably never will. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have work and rest rules under U.S. law, as well. We do. Regulation 2.3 of the new MLC Code also delineates hours of rest and work for mariners.

22 Aug 2013

Pilots Push to Avert Ships of Shame

A leading maritime company has launched a push to prevent hundreds of dangerous, unseaworthy ships from being detained at Australian ports. Australian Reef Pilots (ARP) has started providing ship safety audits at overseas ports to assess whether foreign ships bound for Australia are up to standard. ARP General Manager Alan Maffina said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) aimed to randomly inspect about 80% of vessels calling at Australian ports and would not hesitate to delay any that were not up to scratch. “195 foreign ships were detained in the year to May,” Maffina said. “Most were held for a few days but several were tied up for more than a week and one was kept idle for 47 days while its faults were fixed.

25 Oct 2012

Investigation Reveals Queensland Pilotage Safety Concerns

Systemic safety issues in Queensland coastal pilotage operations have been identified in an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation report. Coastal pilots form a key defence against a serious shipping incident in parts of the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait as part of a suite of broader protective measures already in place. The ATSB began an investigation into coastal pilotage operations in December 2010 following the release of its report into the grounding of the piloted tanker Atlantic Blue in the Torres Strait and a request from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA)—the coastal pilotage safety regulator.

10 Nov 2010

SOLASOLV Supplies Stolt Significant Ship

Photo courtesy Solar Solve Marine

Chemical tanker Stolt Island, one of a series of six sister vessels, has been selected as a Significant Ship of 2009 by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. She was delivered to her owners with 18 SOLASAFE anti glare roller screens at her navigation bridge windows. When in use the screens will reject the glare, heat and uv light from the sun. The benefits of the screens’ infra red rejecting properties are three fold; creating a more comfortable working environment, reducing air conditioning running costs and reducing Green House Gas emissions.

19 Nov 2008

New Australian Pilotage Guidelines

The Australian Transport Council (ATC) of Ministers has approved a new set of national safety guidelines on marine pilotage. The revised guidelines were developed by the National Marine Safety Committee (NMSC) in conjunction with Ports Australia, the Australian Marine Pilots Association and Marine Safety Queensland. The project delivers Federal, State and Territory Authorities with a set of guidelines to facilitate a national approach to marine pilotage safety. NMSC’s Acting CEO John Henry said the standards referenced are appropriate for the individual ports and pilotage areas within their jurisdiction’s waters. “In providing these guidelines…

09 Sep 2004

Wake Up Call for Fatigued Seafarers

Recent research by the New Zealand Maritime Safety Authority (MSA) has shown fatigue at sea to be of concern, with half of those seafarers surveyed reporting being fatigued on at least on one of their last five trips. Fatigue has also been a causal factor in several recent vessel groundings. An MSA-led working group is now working with the industry to provide guidelines and policy for owners, operators and employees to better manage fatigue. Each commercial maritime sector is being tackled one-by-one, and the fishing industry is first up. The guidelines will include practical methods for managing fatigue, and will be used as a basis for fatigue management training and education.

11 Oct 2004

Asleep at the Wheel

On the morning of June 29, 2003, the general cargo vessel JAMBO grounded off the Summer Islands on the west coast of Scotland. The primary cause of the grounding and subsequent total loss of the ship was that the chief officer on watch fell asleep and missed his intended change of course. He was awakened by the grounding. The root cause of the casualty was extreme fatigue - the result of a long period of standing six-on, six-off watches combined with cargo loading/unloading duties when the ship was in port. Unfortunately, this type casualty is not rare. Marine casualties in U.S. a) Grounding of the passenger car-ferry A. b) Collision between the USS RICHARD L. e) Grounding of the passenger ship STAR PRINCESS on Poundstone Rock, Lynn Canal, Alaska on June 23, 1995.