Stability:
Case Study 1
Vessel Type: Dry Cargo
Trading Area: South Pacific
Case No: 18006
The Incident:
As the last few containers were being loaded on the deck of a 3,000 gross ton inter-island
cargo vessel she capsized and sank alongside the dock, damaging the dock as she went
down. The Port Authority issued a wreck removal order. The Club invited tenders for the
removal operation and a contract was finally agreed with a Singapore-based salvage
company. The wreck removal was effected using a large sheerlegs which had to be towed
over 2,000 miles to the site of the accident. The wreck was cut up into manageable sections
and dumped at sea. The berth was finally cleared some five months after the ship went
down. The majority of the cargo was a total loss.
Observations
Our investigations revealed that the cause of the loss was an error in calculating the vessel’s
stability. The Chief Officer had failed to make proper allowance for the height of a stow of
bagged cement in the lower hold when calculating the vessel’s vertical centre of gravity. As a
result his calculations produced an over-optimistic prediction of the vessel’s stability on
completion of loading. There was no established procedure on this ship for an independent
check of the Chief Officer’s calculation. Had there been one it is highly likely that the mistake
would have been noticed and the loss of the vessel avoided.
The Financial Cost:
Cargo claims totalling over US$3 million were submitted to the owners. By using package
limitation and defences available to the owners under the Hague Rules, those claims were
finally settled for less than US$500,000. The costs of removing the wreck of the vessel
approached US$1.5 million. Claims by the Port Authority and individual crew members
brought the total cost of the claim to almost US$2.2 million.
