The Australian
Transport Safety Bureau issued its preliminary report into the incident aboard
the APL England, which resulted in the loss of containers overboard in
Australian waters. While the first phase of the ongoing investigation reviewed
the facts and the preliminary report does not include safety findings or
analysis, it already highlights several of the concerns raised by the
Australian authorities after their initial inspection of the vessel.
The APL England was sailing in Australian waters when it
encountered high seas. The Singapore-flagged container ship reported to the
Australian Maritime Safety Authority at the time that it had briefly lost power
resulting in the loss of containers. At first, 40 containers were reported lost
overboard, but the number was later increased to 50, with another 63 damaged.
Inspectors in Brisbane detained the ship for safety violations and the captain
was later brought up on charges in Australia related to the environmental
impact as the containers washed up along the coast.
The investigation’s preliminary report sets out the
incident’s sequence of events and documents the range of safety issues
inspectors found when they boarded the containership in Brisbane. “The ongoing
investigation will review and analyze several areas of interest, including the
ship’s container stow and lashing arrangement; the maintenance regimes for the
ship’s deck and engine room; the ship’s service and inspection history; the
ship’s stability condition; weather conditions and information provided to the
crew; and the actions of the ship’s crew,” said ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg
Hood.
The preliminary report details the events leading up to the
loss of the containers. It highlights that the Bureau of Meteorology had issued
regular forecasts regarding a complex low-pressure system developing off the
south-east of the country, with gale-force wind warnings.
On the morning of the incident, the APL England was
maintaining a southerly course with a speed of about 7 knots. The ship was
pitching and periodically rolling in high seas and gale-force winds when they
experienced a series of very heavy rolls, to about 25 degrees either side of upright.
At that point, the steering system and engine room alarms sounded, and then the
main engine shut down due to a loss of oil pressure. The report details that
the ship was continuing to roll heavily while the crew restarted the engine and
then changed course to head with the weather.
Testimony from the crew highlighted that it was more than a
half-hour later, only after sunrise, “that the chief officer first noticed the
fallen stacks of containers,” Hood said. It was only later that they determined
that, “One container lost overboard contained hazardous goods in the form of
dry powder fire extinguishers.”
The report proceeds to detail the results of the ATSB
transport safety investigators survey of the vessel after it docked in
Brisbane.