Dutch Fisherman Hit Tanker After Leaving Bridge for a Head Call
The Netherlands' disciplinary court for mariners has fined a fishing vessel's helmsman for leaving the bridge unattended to go to the head. While he was gone, the vessel hit an anchored tanker off IJmuiden, causing damage and a small spill.
On September 28, 2022, the 150-foot fishing vessel Joris Senior (registry number ARM 18) had finished up a week of fishing in the North Sea and was returning to IJmuiden. There were six crewmembers aboard, and a substitute skipper was at the helm for the transit. No additional crewmembers were on lookout duty.
At 2200 hours, the helmsman chose to deviate from the captain's voyage plan. He steered Joris Senior out of the traffic separation scheme to cut through an anchorage area "because it was not busy, and that way you come in a little earlier," he told investigators. While transiting towards the anchorage at 10 knots, he spotted the nearby tanker Golden Daisy, and the closest point of approach appeared to be 0.3 nautical miles. He determined that the larger ship did not pose a risk of collision, and at this point, he decided to go to the bathroom.
"I definitely did not fall asleep. I really had to go to the toilet and then left the bridge for about five minutes, without anyone else there," he told the disciplinary board. "When I came up I was sitting against [Golden Daisy]. I do not know what went wrong."
At 0026, Joris Senior struck Golden Daisy's hull above the waterline, punching a hole in the tanker's sludge tank and releasing about three cubic meters of sludge into the water. The fishing vessel's bow was damaged as well.
The board concluded that the charges against the helmsman were well-founded, that he should have called the skipper to relieve him before leaving the bridge, and that he had "seriously failed in his responsibilities."
"It should have been clear to him that when sailing through the anchorage, constant alertness on the bridge was required," the disciplinary board concluded. "The person concerned could not assume that no risk of collision could develop with a CPA set to 0.3 miles. . . . It could have ended much worse."
The helmsman was fined 1,500 euros. The fine could have been larger, but the board noted that the defendant had a family to provide for and could not work because of injuries he sustained in the allision. The board also took into account a 1,500 euro fine that had already been levied for the helmsman's decision to serve as an unauthorized substitute skipper.
The board noted that accidents on port-bound fishing vessels after a week of heavy fishing "are unfortunately not an unknown phenomenon." It advised operators to pay extra attention to fishing crews' watchstanding practices in order to ensure a safe return home.
Top image courtesy Joost J. Bakker / CC BY 2.0