Ferry leaves watertight doors open
Ferry Online Travel News 09/07/2009
A cross-Channel operator reportedly left watertight doors open regularly during crossings.
Following an incident in which an engine-room fitter was injured on passenger ferry Eurovoyager, the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released its findings.
The injured man was trapped in a hydraulically-operated watertight door in the vessel’s machinery space as the ferry sailed for Ramsgate, in Kent, last November.
TransEuropa Shipping Lines, the ferry operator, said that it had no comment on the incident.
Britain’s MAIB has called for shipping safety improvements in both the UK and Europe.
The fitter was treated for crush injuries and was expected to be unable to work for up to six months.
The report into the incident found a number of problems related to the ferry’s watertight door operations. Eurovoyager has been in service since 1978 and operates on the Ostend-Ramsgate route.
In the report it was stated: “On-board procedures for the operation of watertight doors were poorly promulgated and were not monitored or enforced. It was the usual practice on board for the watertight doors to be in local control.”
It continued: “However, VDR (voyage data recorder) data showed that many of the doors were routinely left open at sea, which potentially compromised the vessel's watertight integrity.”
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