At 0312 on 11 March 2009, the container ship
Pacific Adventurer lost 31 containers overboard in gale
force weather conditions and large swells off Cape Moreton,
Queensland. All the containers sank, however, two of the ship's
fuel oil tanks were holed as the containers went overboard.
About 270 tonnes of oil leaked from the holed tanks
and 38 miles of Queensland's coastline was affected by the oil.
The ATSB investigation found that the ship was
probably subjected to synchronous rolling at the time and that the
severe and sometimes violent rolling motions caused the lashings on
the containers, and possibly some the containers themselves, to
fail. In addition, much of the fixed and loose container lashing
equipment was in a poor condition and the inspection and
replacement regime in the ship's safety management system had not
been effectively implemented.
The ATSB identified four safety issues during the
investigation: the inspection and maintenance regime of the ship's
fixed and loose lashing equipment had been deficient; there was no
requirement for a third party to inspect this equipment; the cargo
in the containers which were lost overboard was not packaged in
accordance with international dangerous goods shipping
requirements; and the dangerous goods shipping compliance audit
regime did not pick up on this fact.
Safety action to address the safety issues was taken by several
of the responsible organisations. The ATSB has issued one safety
advisory notice in regard to the outstanding safety issue
concerning third party inspections of lashing equipment.
Updated: 22 July 2011
Following the release of the Pacific Adventurer investigation
report, the ATSB was contacted by the German Federal Bureau of
Marine Casualty Investigation (BSU) in relation to a number of
accidents involving fatalities and serious injuries on board large
German flagged container vessels as a result of severe ship motions
in poor sea conditions. The BSU have commissioned a number of
studies into container ship stability and the causes of severe
rolling motions as part of their investigations and undertook to
conduct a further study specifically into the circumstances of
Pacific Adventurer's voyage on 10/11 March 2009. The BSU is
currently working through the International Maritime Organization
to address the issue of 'excessive stability' on container ships in
order to develop of a new generation of intact stability
criteria.
The BSU's report: Theoretical Investigations on
the Container Loss of MV Pacific Adventurer off Cape Moreton,
Queensland; and their reports into two fatal accidents on board
merchant ships during typhoons in the sea area off Hong Kong, can
be downloaded from this webpage.
