Equipment damaged during cargo operations

A member has reported an incident in which a filled drilling cutting box (DCB) was punctured during transfer onto the deck of a supply vessel. The DCB was damaged, with the side being punctured from a protruding angle iron bracket on an adjacent container. The DCB contained sand and an amount of oily water. The supply vessel Master decided to backload the container onto the platform and, upon lifting it, the oily water spilled out from the punctured area. This resulted in a minor spillage onto deck.

Our member noted the following:

• There was inadequate risk assessment for the emergency response to the spillage;
• There was no consideration given to potential release of oily water to the deck prior to backloading;
• Returning the container to the platform was against company procedures which state:”The vessel Master is responsible for the safe and correct loading of his vessel and should liaise with the OIM (client representative on the installation) to ensure that the vessel is loaded correctly. The master should notify the OIM of defective lifts and return these to the installation only if it is safe to do so”;
• No-one stopped the job.

The main lessons identified were:

• The Master has overriding authority to make decisions on the vessel; his action in this particular case, should have been to arrange sealing of the punctured area of the DCB with suitable materials to prevent further spillage to deck;
• Better communications between the Master and platform Offshore Installation Manager (OIM) should have been in in place.

Members may wish to refer to the following incident (search word: cargo):

• Spillage of methanol during cargo operations