Shift of timber deck cargo on dry cargo vessel Sea Challenger during heavy weather

Location: High seas.

Completed PE Summary: Sea Challenger

A short summary of the accident and action taken:

Merchant Vessel/Accident Details
Vessel Name Sea Challenger
Registered Owner/Manager Lomar Shipping Ltd
Port of Registry London
Flag UK
Type Dry cargo vessel
Built 1998
Classification Society Germanischer Lloyd
Length Overall 131.6m
Gross Tonnage 6418
Date/Time 09/10/2004, 1235
Location of Incident Foreign high seas
Incident Type Cargo handling failure and listing
Persons Onboard 19 Crew
Injuries/Fatalities None
Damage/Pollution Minor damage

Synopsis

This vessel suffered a shift of packaged timber deck cargo in storm force sea conditions.

Action taken

To prevent a similar accident occurring in the future, owners and masters of vessels which carry packaged timber deck cargoes were recommended to read the advice contained in MAIB’s report on a recent safety study on the carriage of Timber Deck Cargoes which can be found on this website

In addition, the owner of this vessel was recommended to:

  • Consider applying high friction coatings to the hatch covers on ships that they own which carry timber deck cargoes.

  • Consider using more dunnage between the tiers of cargo to prevent packages resting on rope slings, which provide poor friction.

  • Wrap timber packages with high friction waterproof covers.

  • Consider using hog wires, which are lashings strung between the uprights and laid between each layer of timber packages, to help reduce the chances of cargo shift.


Published 23 January 2015