C2/2007M MS CLAUDIA, grounding off Tornio on 23.10.2007

The Dutch break bulk carrier CLAUDIA had loaded a cargo consisting of 4,781.5 tons of stainless steel in Tornio. The vessel departed from the harbour under pilotage along a fairway where fairway construction work was being done. When approaching a fairway part called “Portti” at the bend of the fairway, the pilot was blinded by the lights of the dredgers dredging in the area so that he could not see the lights of the buoys bordering the narrow passage. The sea clutter caused by the roll of the sea disturbed the vessel’s radar picture in such a way that the echoes generated by the buoys could not be discerned from the sea clutter of the nearby area. The turn was short and the vessel went aground and was damaged to its bottom. There were no environmental damages.

The CLAUDIA returned to Tornio, where its damages were surveyed and the cargo was unloaded. The vessel was docked in Gdynia, Poland, and it later returned to the Tornio traffic.

It came up in the investigation that the instructions with reference to the cooperation during the fairway construction work between the vessel traffic and those performing the dredging operations had not been detailed enough. The dazzling floodlights of the dredgers combined with the vessel’s inadequate route planning caused the turn ending at the gate of a narrow fairway to fail.

The investigators recommend that the fairway constructors specify traffic principles and procedures in their contracts. It should be made sure in the annual inspections and surveys that vessels have route plans. In addition to this, it is recommended that the Finnish Maritime Administration and the Finnish State Pilotage Enterprise form a workgroup to look into the availability of hand-held computers containing electronic charts suitable for pilots’ use.

C2/2007M Report (pdf, 1.73 Mt)