When a ship gets collide with another ship or makes contact damage to a terminal

structure, the ultimate cost of damage repair plus loss of cargo and environmental
damage due to oil spillage can run into millions of dollars.

Loss of lives and, or crew injury adds more financial burden onto a shipowner.
Unfortunately, collision accidents at sea occur not only in a dense traffic-congested
area or due to restricted visibility and, or machinery/equipment failure, and similar
incidents, but a significant amount of incidents happening at open sea with clear
visibility.

Recent P&I club report published on some major casualties suggest that substandard
bridge procedure, human error and lack of situational awareness were the root cause
in many collision incidences.

Most common underlying causes being reported as follows:

Insufficient watch-keeping.
Lack of situational awareness.
Failure to set priorities - lack of positive action.
Preoccupation with administrative tasks.
Failure to communicate intentions (officer/master/pilot).
Lack of assertiveness - failure to challenge incorrect decisions (officer/master/pilot).
Failure to comply with standard procedures and international regulations.
Failure to utilise available data and resources.
Lack of training - 'human-technology' interface.

Prevention of further damage

Upon collision with another ship, Go Astern as early as possible to limit the damage
and to avoid further contact. But if the bow of the vessel has penetrated into the side
shell of the other vessel, reverse the engine only after an initial damage assessment as
one of the vessels may suddenly lose her buoyancy and sink, or cause/increase oil
pollution.

Limit any flooding by using available means onboard.

Survey the degree of damages of the hull by sounding all compartments likely to be
affected by the collision. Limit any flooding by using available means onboard.

 If the leakage is small, wooden plugs, blankets, tarpaulin, cement boxes or the
like can be used to reduce the flooding rate.
 An increase in the draft due to flooding can cause flooding through openings that
are usually above waterlines, to which serious attention must be given.
 If high rate flooding is likely to cause the vessel to sink, an intentional stranding
should be considered.
 If leakage occurs in the forepeak tank, proceed with reduced speed so that
excessive pressure on the collision bulkhead is kept to a minimum, and move the
vessel to safer waters. Ballast aft tanks if possible to regain freeboard forward.

Early Readiness for Evacuation

In the event of identifying, or even suspecting, that the ship may have sustained
damage, the ship’s personnel should immediately be called to their emergency
stations. A HIGH PRIORITY SHOULD BE PLACED ON PREPARING
EQUIPMENT FOR EVACUATION. Abandonment should, however, only be
invoked on the spoken orders of the Master following assessment of the risk.

Contact with a Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) and the management
office should be made early if the Master has any suspicion that the ship is damaged.
An URGENCY (Pan-Pan) signal is justified and this should be upgraded to
DISTRESS (Mayday) if the ship is confirmed as damaged.

Salvage contract and evacuation

Follow the Company's instructions to conclude a salvage contract, for which

communication must be established between the Company and the vessel as soon as
possible after the accident. When there is imminent danger, and absolutely no time to
wait for the Company's decision, the Master may request salvage using his
professional judgment.

In this case, the Master must confirm that the contract is based on the Lloyds Open
Form (LOF) even at the worst case, and Avoid having salvers start the operation
without confirming the conditions of the contract. If danger is imminent to human
lives on board the vessel, every effort should be made to evacuate everyone from the
vessel. The Master should request the salvage by all available means before the
evacuation to show that the vessel side has no intention to abandon the hull and cargo.

Life saving and rescue of other ship

1. If there is no urgent danger to own vessel, stay near the other ship to take all
necessary measures to save human lives and assist in the possible rescue
attempt of the other vessel.
2. If the other vessel has sunk or is likely to sink, do the very best to save human
lives immediately by lowering lifeboats or other possible means.
3. If it is unavoidable to discontinue the search, although there are still persons
reported lost from the other ship, obtain the consent of the other ship or the
Rescue Coordination Centre. Enter the fact in the deck log book.
4. Handling an accident resulting in injury or death of the vessel's crew should be
dealt with mentioned in the Emergency Procedures for Human Casualty
Handling oil spills

In cases of an oil spill or threat of such a spill, should be dealt with utmost importance
,reference is to be made from SOPEP

Reporting

If the accident is likely to cause obstruction to marine traffic, the Master shall report
the matter to the nearest office of the Maritime Safety Agency , or the Coast Guard or
the like, if the vessel is in territorial waters of countries .

References:

Early assessment of ships hull damage - disaster & countermeasures.

https://bulkcarrierguide.com/causes-of-failure.html

Damage survey and countermeasures after a collision accident by ships- How to

prevent further damage?http://shipsbusiness.com/attention-to-collision-
incidence.html

What is initial assessment after collision?. https://marinegyaan.com/what-is-

initial-assessment-after-collision/