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Flooding of pump room with sea water during ballasting on board a tanker
Applicable to:
Indian ships and companies
Effective Date:
12.05.2015
Superseded Circulars:
None
Key Changes and Requirements
1. Incident Summary
A tanker's pump room flooded with sea water during ballasting while discharging cargo of HSD alongside an oil terminal. No injuries, environmental damage, or significant machinery damage occurred.
2. Root Cause & Lessons Learned
Root cause: Breakdown of ballast pump casing and seal plate, leading to sea water ingress. Contributory factors included unmanned ECR, lack of remote valve operation, and insufficient alarm notification.
- Lessons Learned:
- Adhere to SMS procedures for critical operations.
- Manned ECR during cargo and ballast operations.
- Additional 'high bilge alarm' in CCR and wheelhouse.
- Consider remote operation of at least one sea chest valve.
II/4 Company SMS vol. II, sec 7.3
Important Note
Ensure ECR is manned during cargo and ballast operations to monitor pumps and equipment effectively.
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