B1/2008M M/S TALI, grounding in Jössingfjord, Norway, on 29.1.2008

M/S TALI left Jössingfjord in Norway bound for Tahkoluoto in Finland in the morning of 29 January 2008 carrying ilmenite. She was manoeuvred under the guidance of a Norwegian pilot. After the vessel had left the fiord, the pilot expressed his wish to disembark the vessel and embark the pilot vessel before the usual pilot boarding place. The master of M/S TALI agreed to this. Due to heavy seas, the pilot was not able to leave M/S TALI in spite of several attempts.

The master had manoeuvred the vessel to starboard towards the shore and thus tried to gain better shelter from the sea for the pilot boat. During the manoeuvre the vessel had proceeded so close to the shore that the pilot had told the master to turn the vessel to port and returned to the bridge. Before this the master had already ordered the vessel to turn to port and started the bow thruster to assist in the turn. Due to the inertia of the vessel and the wind and the waves, M/S TALI drifted during the turn so close to the shore that the stern of the vessel hit a rock at about 9:16 Finnish time. The rudder and propeller of the vessel were damaged, and the propeller shaft came loose from its bearings and protruded almost two metres. A leakage gap appeared in the shaft tube, and water began to flow into the engine room. The vessel's pumps could not pump out the water quickly enough, and the water level in the engine room started to rise. When moving, the propeller shaft had broken parts of the cooling water piping system with the result that the main engine stopped. When the water level rose, the pumps stopped, as did the three auxiliary engines one after the other.

The pilot asked the pilot vessel to call for assistance. With the help of the pilot vessel and the bow thruster, it was possible to get M/S TALI to drift to shallower water and anchor her. After about an hour a SAR-vessel and a coastguard vessel reached M/S TALI. At about 12 o’clock the vessel was taken on tow back towards Jössingfjord Port. Pumping equipment was brought onboard the vessel several times during the voyage. The water level in the engine room rose almost to the level of the sea level, i.e. to approximately ten metres. Divers stopped the leakage when the vessel was in port. The engine room was emptied of water, and the machineries were prepared for a thorough repair and overhaul. The cargo was transferred onboard M/S PASILA, another vessel of the same shipping company. M/S TALI was towed to a dock in Stavanger so that the damages could be repaired.

According to the view of the Accident Investigation Board, the cause of the accident was the prolonged attempts to disembark the pilot while the sea was rough. The master manoeuvring the vessel was paying attention to the pilot’s safe disembarking. Considering the prevailing weather conditions he noticed too late the fact that M/S TALI was proceeding towards the shore.

B1/2008M Report (pdf, 3.23 Mt)