A bulk service got here inside 200 m of grounding within the Nice Barrier Reef after a GPS unit onboard the ship started offering false info to the pilot and crew on board, an ATSB remaining report particulars.
The close to grounding occurred early on the morning of Could 4, 2022, when the 225m bulk service Rosco Poplar was transiting Hydrographers Passage below the conduct of a coastal pilot.
Unknown to the pilot and crew, one of many ship’s three GPS models started outputting incorrect positional knowledge throughout the early levels of the pilotage, seemingly on account of an antenna malfunction.
The ship’s place was then incorrectly displayed on the ship’s navigational tools, together with the digital chart show and data system, radars and computerized identification system.
Because the ship got here inside 200m of Bond Reef, the place regular clearance was about 1,500m, the pilot instantly seen a reef sector mild indicating crimson. This was adopted by the activation of an alert from the ship’s digital navigational tools.
The pilot ordered a heading change and the ship’s course was altered away from the reef, and the remaining pilotage was performed with out additional incident.
The investigation discovered the pilot and bridge workforce relied solely on GPS positioning to observe the ship’s progress, and the pilot did not accurately configure their moveable pilot unit to be unbiased of the ship’s place sensors.
The ATSB additionally decided ineffective bridge useful resource administration and ineffective pilotage contributed to the prevalence.
“An insufficient master-pilot info trade didn’t set up particular person roles and tasks for watchkeeping and communication, whereas the second mate was given duties which distracted them from their duties for monitoring the passage plan, and sustaining a correct lookout,” ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell outlined.
“This prevalence demonstrates the significance of the assorted ideas, strategies and attitudes that collectively comprise efficient bridge useful resource administration.”
In the midst of its investigation the ATSB additionally recognized that the coastal pilotage examine pilot system didn’t present the meant competency assurance to the Australian Maritime Security Authority (AMSA).
Whereas this didn’t contribute to the near-grounding incident, the ATSB recognized vital variations within the software of evaluation requirements between particular person examine pilots, indicating evaluation outcomes weren’t a legitimate and dependable indicator of competency.
AMSA has suggested {that a} assessment of coastal pilotage below the present laws is underway, nonetheless the ATSB has issued AMSA with a security suggestion to handle elements limiting the effectiveness of its examine pilot framework as a system for coastal pilot competency assurance.
The investigation additionally recognized that the vessel site visitors providers operator assessed an uncommon grounding alert show related to the Rosco Poplar’s GPS malfunction as inaccurate.
Consequently, the pilot and ship’s crew weren’t supplied with well timed recommendation of the indicated proximity to Bond Reef.
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