OBO “P” :-

Grounding on Tonneberg Bank,

off Route T in Kattegat
15 Nov. 2002, 2020 hrs smt
Vessel laden with 50,194 mt fuel oil
OBO P
Immediate Causes
➛ Course drawn over 10.8 mtr depth when vessel drawing
12.5 mtr.
➛ A line and arrow drawn to indicate 1 hour notice which
obscured the 10.8 mtr depth.
➛ Passage Plan, not amended for bunkering RV alteration
and course.
➛ C/O altered to new course and should have been rec-
checked the new course on chart, before altering. He did
not !!
➛ Failure of Bridge Team in that neither of the dk offcrs
noticed the depths on and near the new course 299o.
Immediate Causes

➛ 3/O unable to cope with position fixing and collision

avoidance functions after taking over watch at 2000 hrs.
He had no time to check positions plotted as crossing
vessel on starboard bow was causing concern.
➛ Master or C/O should have remained on the bridge
considering above.
Basic Causes
➛ It is not uncommon for a Master to do just what
Capt. “G” did - draw the new course himself. The
recommended practice is to have the 2/O lay down
courses which the Master then checks. If the
Master does this job himself it is much more likely
that any error he makes will go undetected.
Basic Causes
➛The issue is more on management of
resources. Officer watches should have
been “doubled” for sections if not all of
Baltic Sea transit. This would have
enhanced navigational safety, plus given
Master rest.
Watch Level Matrix

Watch Conn & Position Commu- Steering Look Out

Level Collision Fixing & nications
Avoidance Navigation & Others

Level 1 Officer of the Watch AB

Master or Officer of the Watch AB Look Out

Level 2 Chief Officer

Officer of Extra AB Look Out

Level 3 Master the Watch Officer

i.e. “watch doubled”

Corrective Action

➛ All ships informed of the grounding and it’s cause, ie.

failure of passage plan and basics of navigation chart work
- that after courses are drawn, the navigating officer must
go over each track again and check depths, dangers, wheel
over positions, parallel index info, etc. When vessel is
navigating in narrows, dangerous or heavy traffic areas,
the navigating officer must come on the bridge 10 minutes
earlier to relieve the OOW, in order to check carefully all
above before taking over the watch.
Corrective Action
➛ The Passage Plan had sufficient information in it.
However, the fact whether the OOW had time to refer to it,
in this specific case with vessel in congested and shallow
waters is questioned.

More information on dangers, tides, parallel indexing,

communication, traffic density, position fixing frequency,
etc. is being encouraged to be written in clear sections of
charts for immediate reference of the OOW.

All importantly, shallows on either side of courses to be

clearly marked off as “no-go areas” with 2B pencil. As
guideline, shallows within half hour steaming either side of
course line.
Corrective Action
Masters shud not hesitate to contact the company ,
should there be concern regarding navigational
safety, be it fatigue of bridge team, “commercial”
pressure , lack of experience of trading area, and
so on.

In this serious accident 200 mt. of bottom steel

was renewed. Time lost was 39 days for repairs
and a further 8 days until she regained deviation
point. Cost of repairs USD 1 million !!!!