Fatal accident in the North Sea near IJmuiden

NTSB issued an investigation report on the contact of tow William C with a Rock Island railroad bridge protection cell, on Des Plaines River, in January 2020. The investigation established that high speed prevented the pilot to correct the tow’s position after completing the transit through the previous bridge.

On February 9th, 2023 Unites States Coast guard issued a safety alert (04-22-CH1) in which attention is drawn to the correct positioning of handhold stanchions onboard of ships.

To monitor the vessel’s progress, the pilot had set up his portable pilotage unit (PPU). He had connected the rate-of-turn generator to the vessel’s pilot plug and had set a variable range marker on the radar with a radius of 0.5 nm.

Despite clear regulations and regular maintenance requirements, safety often falls by the wayside, as the current example of a bulk carrier vividly demonstrates.

Apparently there were two crew members on board, but no pilot. One of crew was recovered and declared dead, another one, skipper of the boat, is missing.

President of the Marine Pilot Association, Hubert Kerr, said that the pilots will not be satisfied with just being placed on a priority list, but are instead advocating for the actual jab to boost their protection against COVID-19, given their interaction with persons from different countries daily.

While in many western countries of the world, pilots there have already been preferentially vaccinated against COVID-19, pilots in other countries such as Malaysia are struggling to get vaccinated.

#pelindo #pelabuhan #kapal #pekanbaru #siak #rapp #persatuan #maritime