Flag-Mette

Personal discomfort must not be at the expense of safety at sea, the Maritime Disciplinary Court stated in its ruling about the near-collision pf the 'Eeborg' with the bulk carrier 'Flag Mette' on Oct 6, 2020, in Danish waters, while the second mate was on duty as an officer of watch. When the second mate needed to go to the toilet, he left his position and left the lookout alone on the bridge. The ship continued on autopilot. The problem was that the lookout was not instructed, did not understand English and thus could not follow the radio traffic. The second mate stayed away for at least ten minutes. He says he had diarrhea. When he returned to the bridge he was found to have missed a VTS call about the oncoming 'Flag Mette'. By quickly steering manually to starboard, he was able to avoid a collision. The Disciplinary Board found it incomprehensible that the helmsman did not see the 'Flag Mette' before he left. An examination of the sailing data by the Danish authorities further revealed that the vessel missed a waypoint during his absence. The Disciplinary Court took the helmsman's behaviour very seriously. “In any case, it was a busy and winding waterway. It was therefore irresponsible to go to the toilet at that time. It is equally incomprehensible that the person concerned did not arrange a replacement, when it turned out that he could not keep watch for a longer period of time. Of course, the officer of the watch may need to go to the toilet urgently, but personal discomfort should not be at the expense of safety at sea.” The Disciplinary Court evoked the navigation license for eight weeks, of which four weeks were conditional. The Board recommends that if an officer of the watch really needs to go to the toilet, he should make sure in advance that it is safe to do so and that an adequate lookout is kept during his absence, and if an officer of the watch considers himself unable to perform his function (temporarily) due to illness, he must immediately arrange for a replacement.

The "Flag Mette", coming from Port Kamsar, arrived in the Bay of Douarnenez in the mid-afternoon of Dec 21, 2016, under tow of the emergency tug "Abeille-Bourbon". The ship had suffered propulsion failure in the night of Dec 20 off Ouessant. The tug was deployed from Brest at 8.30 p.m. and established a towing connection on Dec 21 at 4 a.m. After the bulkcarrier was safely moored, the "Abeille Bourbon" returned to its base at 3 p.m. The tug "Bremen Fighter" took the ship in tow to Stade/Bützfleth, ETA Dec 27.