Unite-Ocean

An investigation into a cargo loss north off the Coffs Coast has found human error caused hundreds of packs of timber veneer to fall overboard in heavy seas. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau now released its investigation into the loss of freight from the "Mimasaka" off Yamba on October 4, 2010. 604 packs of timber veneer slid from the ship's deck into the sea due to insufficient instructions given to crew on how to stow and secure the load. The "Mimasaka" had earlier departed from Burnie, Tasmania for Singapore when the cargo spilled into the sea off Yamba at 8.55 a.m. The investigation found an operations manual emailed to the ship by company NYK-Hinode Line did not contain any information or guidance for the stowage and securing of the cargo on the ship's hatch covers. The ATSB identified five safety issues during the investigation, including the lack of guidance provided to the crew by NYK-Hinode Line, that the shipper of the veneer did not follow the recommendations for packaging of the International Maritime Organization's Code of Safe Practice for Ships Carrying Timber Deck Cargo, and that no third party had inspected the packaging to see whether the shipper had followed those recommendations. The unscheduled emergency stop happened in bad weather, 43 nautical miles north-east of Coffs Harbour. Minor damage was caused to the vessel and divers and welders worked on the ship while it was docked in the Clarence River. Not all of the timber veneer packs were recovered in the weeks after the incident.

On Oct 11 the "Mimasaka" has resumed its journey from Australia. The ship which had loaded in Melbourne and was bound for Singapore, had run into bad weather off New South Wales and listed to 40 degrees. It lost an estimated 600 packs of 2mm veneer although some was later retrieved from the sea. The ship put into Yamba and continued after divers and welders secured the remaining cargo.