A CARGO ship ran aground on the Co Antrim coast after the watchkeeper fell asleep in his seat, an accident investigation report revealed yesterday.
There was no dedicated lookout on duty either as the vessel, which was loaded with 2,360 tonnes of scrap metal, sailed on for more than three hours with nobody on board awake before ending up on a gently sloping beach seven miles north of Larne.
Officials of the Marine Accident Investigation Branch have already called on the organisation responsible for international shipping standards to take action to deal with unacceptable levels of fatigue involving crews working long hours.
Following an investigation into this incident in the North Channel of the Irish Sea last June, a report warned: “It can only be a matter of time before these ‘unguided missiles’ cause a catastrophic accident.”
The Antari was on its way from Corpach in Scotland to the Belgian port of Ghent when the chief officer fell asleep shortly after taking over the watch at midnight on June 28th as the ship passed the peninsula of Kintyre. He had been working a six hours on, six hours off watchkeeping regime with the master.
There was no lookout on the bridge throughout the night and the watch alarm had not been switched on, safety requirements which should have been routinely applied. It was a moonless night and the sea was calm, with a slightly westerly swell.
The officer fell asleep in his chair on the starboard side of the wheelhouse, in front of one of the radar sets, and was still asleep more than three hours later when the ship grounded at 3.21am on the beach close to the road at St Drumnagreagh Port between Larne and Glenarm. Coastguards in Belfast were alerted by a passing motorist.
It was not until 6.12am that the 2,466-tonne ship, almost 90m in length, managed to be refloated. More than 70 per cent of the bottom of the hull was damaged and repairs involved 25 tonnes of new steelwork.
The unnamed master and the sleeping chief officer both held Russian certificates of competency. With five other members of crew on board at the time, both worked as watchkeepers. According to records, on some days during May and June last year, they were not achieving the hours of rest necessary to meet the proper safety requirements.