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| Home > Publications and press releases > Reports of Marine Department > Reports & Statistics | ||||
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| Whilst navigating in the Northern Fairway,
the Danish registered container ship Mc-Kinney Maersk collided with the local oil barge Gulf No. 4 on 8 June 2002 |
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| A. The incident
1. At about 1915 on 8 June 2002, the Danish registered container ship Mc-Kinney Maersk collided with the local oil barge Gulf No. 4 in the Northern Fairway whilst leaving the Kwai Chung No. 1 container terminal outward bound at an approximate position 22° 19.31’N 114° 06.20’E, about 0.3 mile south of Esso Oil Terminal. 2. At the time of the accident, the weather conditions were clear, the wind was southeasterly force 4 and the visibility was more than 5 miles. The bulbous bow of Mc-Kinney Maersk sustained minor paint scratches whilst Gulf No. 4 sank immediately after the collision. No casualties were reported. B. Findings 1.The investigation has revealed that the probable cause for the collision was the master and pilot of Mc-Kinney Maersk had failed to maintain an effective lookout required by Rule 5 of COLREGs to detect the collision risk with Gulf No. 4 well before the collision. The pilot and the master also failed to comply with Rule 6 of COLREGs to proceed at a safe speed so that they could have sufficient time to take proper and effective action to avoid collision. 2.On the other hand, the master of Gulf No. 4 did not realize any risk of collision, most probably due to his attention being drawn to the oncoming traffic, and hence took no action to avoid the collision. In this connection the master had failed to maintain a proper lookout as required by Rule 5 of COLREGs and failed to comply Rule 9(b) and 9(d) of COLREGs to keep clear of Mc-Kinney Maersk. C. Lessons 1. Northern Fairway is a narrow fairway with busy traffic and is the only passage linking the Kwai Chung container terminals and the Western Fairway. Hence it is frequently used by large container ships like Mc-Kinney Maersk that could only safely navigate within it. Also those ships are severely restricted in their ability to deviate from the course they are following. Other smaller vessels should pay particular attention to them whilst navigating in vicinity of Northern Fairway so that collision risk of similar nature can be reduced. |
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