Fire on the main deck of ro-ro
passenger vessel
This joint report from the UK MAIB and the Bahamas Maritime Administration features a fire that broke out on the main vehicle deck of a 14,000 grt ro-ro passenger vessel. It highlights a number of issues relating to the safety of the ship, its crew, passengers, stevedores and fire and rescue service personnel.
Whilst on passage, a fire was detected on the main vehicle deck. The officer of the watch and duty engineer initially thought the alarm was due to a fault with the fire detection system, and the vehicle deck water drenching system was not started until 20 minutes later.
The fire developed in an unaccompanied curtain-sided refrigerated trailer that was carrying a load of potatoes. The trailer roof shielded the flames from the drenchers and the fire continued to burn. The trailers were tightly stowed; crew had great difficulty gaining access to the fire and were unable to extinguish it.
Unprotected cables and pipework run-ning above the fire were soon damaged in the high temperatures that were generated by the burning curtain-side and cargo packaging materials.
The vessel lost power to forward mooring deck winches and bow thrusters, and control of the rudders was disrupted. Loose cargo partially blocked the deck drains and drencher water caused the ship to list. Drenching was stopped while water drained to prevent further risk to the vessel’s stability, but each time it was stopped, the fire grew in intensity.
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With tugs standing by, the ship entered harbour and berthed alongside. The control circuits for the ro-ro hydraulics had been burnt out, but the engineers managed to bypass the system and were able to open the stern door. Few foot passengers were carried on the route and the ship never used a gangway. Although the port was able to provide a gangway, it was difficult for personnel to move through the tightly stowed vehicles on the upper vehicle deck to get from the gangway into the accommodation. It was decided that it was safer to leave the 62 passengers on board rather than risk evacuating them by the gangway, lifeboat or marine evacuation system.
The local fire and rescue service (FRS) attempted to gain access to the seat of the fire, but struggled to get past the vehicles and make their way through the cargo debris. Firefighters, crew and stevedores worked together to contain the fire, unlash and remove undamaged trailers. Once a route through the main vehicle deck had been cleared the passengers were escorted off, nearly 20 hours after the fire had first been detected.
Subsequent investigation found that the fire was due to one of the ship’s reefer cables being assembled incorrectly.
The purpose of this summary is to highlight certain human element issues arising from this incident; there are many other issues highlighted in this very comprehensive accid-ent report. Those who are involved in the design, regulation, management and operation of ro-ro passenger vessels are strongly advised to read the whole report which identifies all the safety issues raised by the case, and can be downloaded: View>>
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A Nautical Institute project, sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust |
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