Containers

The Swedish Club has provided lessons learned from an incident where water had entered cargo hold 1 of a bulker, causing wet damage and clogged sounding pipes. As part of its ongoing series into hatch cover incidents.

A bulk carrier had a full cargo of zinc concentrate on board and was sailing from the west coast to the east coast of South America. When the vessel passed Cape Horn it experienced heavy weather of Beaufort scale 9 with green sea covering the cargo hold covers 1, 2 and 3. This continued for four days as the vessel battled the waves. The vessel had no weather routeing.

When the weather calmed down the Master asked the Chief Officer to inspect the cargo holds. Continue reading “Sounding pipes should be clear of debris or cargo”

The Swedish Club has highlighted the importance of securing and inspecting hatch covers and checking that they are in good condition. In presenting a case study, the Club explains how seawater may ingress into cargo holds in bad condition can cause serious damage.

The incident

A bulk carrier had been fully loaded with grains. The vessel had side rolling cargo hatch covers. For six days, the vessel encountered heavy weather at Beaufort scale 9 which caused it to pitch and roll heavily. During the voyage the cargo hatch covers were washed over by seawater.

When the vessel was at anchor and waiting for an available berth the hatch covers were opened. This was to ensure the vessel Continue reading “Importance of inspecting hatch covers to ensure their weathertight”

The West P&I Club has noted a number of recent container fire incidents related to containers which were declared as miscellaneous items but actually contained charcoal/carbon. This is a commodity liable to spontaneous combustion. These containers were below deck and when fires broke out there was considerable damage caused to the vessel and other cargo by the fire and the water used to extinguish the fire.

The vessels’ CO2 system assisted in putting the fires out. Fire experts have also advised that they are aware of numerous other fires in containers of charcoal tablets in recent months. Continue reading “West P&I has noticed an increase in fire incidents to containers containing charcoal and carbon”