Technical Circular No: 004/2026
1. This circular highlights the safety concerns arising from a collision incident reported for vessel during offshore cargo discharge operations. The vessel experienced a loss of position control due to malfunction in the Dynamic Positioning (DP) system combined with the Main Engine pitch control being stuck at stern pitch. As a result, the vessel moved astern uncontrollably and made contact with the boat landing fender platform.
The incident resulted in significant structural damage, leading to a loss of hull integrity and necessitating immediate docking for essential repairs.
2. The incident is attributed to a malfunction of pitch control-system and propulsion integration failure under DP operations, compounded by procedural and verification gaps prior undertaking operation.
3. Based on lessons learned from this incident, implementing the following measures can significantly mitigate the risk of recurrence:
a. Ensuring effective implementation of enhanced fail‑safe measures and maintaining robust backup safety mechanisms designed to eliminate single points of failure and mitigate potential harm.
b. Enforcing pre-operation functional checks, test, trials and go/no-go criteria.
c. Maintaining the alarm hierarchy at all times, ensuring that alarms are prioritized based on urgency so that operators remain focused on addressing the most critical issues first.
d. Periodic scheduling of integration tests and audits accompanied by the effective monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs) and the systematic execution of trend analysis.
e. Ensuring crew training programs focus on propulsion integration, simulator scenarios including drills for pitch-stuck, DP drop-out, and mixed-mode control near structures.
f. Strengthening the structure and processes of Bridge Resource Management (BRM) to ensure safe and efficient bridge team performance through effective communication, teamwork, and decision-making.
g. Periodic audits to timely identify short coming with emphasis on critical operation such as DP operation associated control systems and alarm management to ensure compliance with SMS procedures & safe practices.
4. Owners & Managers are to take note of above in order that corrective actions can be taken to avoid similar situations in future.
Enclosure: Nil
This Technical Circular and the material contained in it is provided only for the purpose of supplying current information to the reader and not as an advice to be relied upon by any person. While we have taken utmost care to be as factual as possible, readers/ users are advised to verify the exact text and content of the Regulation from the original source/ issuing Authority.