Executive summary
On Friday 4 July, at 0632 the container ship "Bunga Teratai 4" and the fishing vessel "Mako" collided in Tasman Bay to the west of D'Urville Island. Neither vessel was damaged to the extent that its seaworthiness was compromised. Had the point of contact been at the bow of the ship instead of the stern, the fishing vessel would probably have been capsized and sunk with the likelihood of serious injury or death of its 4 crew.
Safety issues identified included:
· adequacy of the lookout by the crew of the fishing vessel
· insufficiently positive action to avoid a collision by the crew of the container ship
· the standard of bridge resource management and poor maintenance of a safe navigational watch on the container ship
· possible fatigue of the fishing vessel skipper.
Safety recommendations were made to the Chief Executive Officer of McDonald and Brown Limited and the Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia International Shipping Corporation to address these issues.
Related Recommendations
Promote the benefits of bridge resource management throughout the navigating officers in the fleet.
Promote and include in his operations manual information on the causes, effects and strategies to minimise the effects of fatigue on his crews, particularly the skippers.
In conjunction with his safe ship management company amend his operations manual to include specific instructions on the use of the watch alarm by the skippers of his vessels.
Disseminate this report among the fleet as a way to promote better attention to bridge operations, particularly the collision regulations. The realisation that this collision could easily have led to the death of the 4 crew members of the Mako might make it more pertinent.