Achi news desk-
The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) found that the ship’s “inadequate voyage plan” had been in place since Alfred entered service in 2019, was a “significant safety issue” and had gone “without detected” by annual company audits and surveys. by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), the official publicly funded UK Government agency responsible for maritime safety.
Now the MCA has confirmed in the wake of the accident that it will ensure that its surveyors, when they visit ships, specifically check and seek reassurance from the crew on correct trip planning.
READ MORE: Scotland’s £1m-a-month emergency ferry previously crashed after master fell asleep
Ten suffered serious injuries which meant they were unable to work for 72 hours or more as a result of the accident off Swana, the uninhabited privately owned island in the Pentland Firth off the north coast of Scotland which is part of an archipelago Orkney.
It has been found that the master of the Pentland Ferries vessel, the MV Alfred, “almost certainly” fell asleep moments before it crashed in July, 2022.
The investigation found that Alfred’s journey plan was inadequate and that its Electronic Chart Display Information System, which is the ferry’s main navigation method, was not being used effectively to support safe navigation and warn of danger.
The MV Alfred, once described as the most environmentally friendly ferry in Scotland, had 84 passengers and 13 crew on board when it partially ran aground on the Isle of Swana, the northernmost of the two islands in the Pentland Firth between the Orch Islands and Caithness on the Scottish mainland.
RNLI lifeboats were called to evacuate the £14m Vietnamese-built catamaran – with one person rushed to hospital with a broken shoulder.
Dozens were feared to have suffered mental trauma and physical injuries including cuts, sprains and soft tissue damage.
CCTV images showed passengers and crew being thrown violently onto the deck and others pushed over benches.
The ferry has since been introduced by Transport Scotland as an ’emergency boat’ from April, 2023 with Pentland Ferries operating the services on behalf of state-owned ferry company CalMac.
But it has emerged that the MAIB is also concerned that among the safety issues raised by the accident was that he was allowed to “normally” go too close to land.
He said the shipmaster’s “considerable experience” on the route and the highly repetitive nature of Alfred’s schedule between Gills Bay and St Margaret’s Hope “probably desensitized him to the risks of traveling close to shore”.
MV Alfred having recently returned to Troon
The MAIB said “given that trip planning and the correct operation of bridge equipment are essential to the safe operation of all ships, it is essential that these are subject to assurance during the inspection and inspection processes”.
The MAIB says it was only until the MCA’s general inspection after the accident that the ship’s voyage planning and other issues were found to be “deficient”.
Following the accident they issued a “major non-conformity because Pentland Ferries’ safety management procedures for bridge manning and passage planning were not being followed.
The MCA has told the Herald that it will also ensure that there are surveyors when the ships visit to check that assurances are received regarding the correct operation of bridge equipment.
An MCA source said: “The MCA places the utmost importance on the safety of passengers and crew. As well as the Alfred being inspected by MCA surveyors after the incident, another Pentland Ferries vessel was unknowingly inspected during a cruise to check that safety lessons had been learned by the company.
“The MCA has accepted the MAIB’s recommendations and will do what is necessary to ensure that ferries continue to operate to high standards so that passengers can have confidence in their safety.”
The Orch Islands Council Harbor Authority, which is responsible for security in the harbor area, created what are described as vessel traffic services (VTS) protection zones just over half a mile from the coast around the islands of Stroma and Swana.
The purpose of VTS is to “contribute to the safety of life at sea”, improve the efficiency of boat navigation and mitigate the development of “unsafe situations” by providing timely and relevant information that could influence ship movements and assist in decision-making on board. . It is also there to monitor and control ship traffic to “ensure the safety and efficiency of boat movements.
The system automatically alerts the VTS operator of a vessel entering the zone.
According to researchers, the system gives the operator the opportunity to warn the ship’s crew about the development of so-called “unsafe situations”.
And according to the MAIB, the track of the MV Alfred “triggered” the VTS protection zones around the islands of Stroma and Swana.
It also did so before the accident, but the VTS operators did not call the ferry.
A spokesman for Orkney Council said: “We have considered and accepted the findings of the MAIB investigation. Since the ground-breaking event, a number of improvements have been implemented, including better communication with all local ferry companies on their journey plans, a better audit process around this and a better PEC revalidation process.”
