NAVIGATOR SCORPIO

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

MAIB report regarding grounding in January revealed that officer was disctracted

An MAIB report revealed that the "Navigator Scorpio" ran aground in the North Sea after the officer on watch became distracted and lost positional awareness. The liquefied gas carrier had been off the coast of Norfolk when it ran aground in restricted waters on Haisborough Sand on Jan 3, 2014. The investigation into the incident also found that the passage plan was incomplete and that the effects of wind and strong tidal streams had not been properly taken into account. The sole bridge watchkeeper became distracted from his lookout duties when he began undertaking passage planning and chart corrections, causing him to miss the planned course change. "Given the proximity to danger, appropriate navigational techniques were not applied and the bridge manning was insufficient. Additionally, weaknesses in the crew's navigation capability had been identified during an audit of the vessel, however, follow up actions were not sufficient to prevent this grounding." The vessel, which had been heading to Scotland, was underway without a complete berth-to-berth passage plan and when a potential hazard was identified, the master failed to take effective action to avoid it. The investigation also found that after grounding, false information was added to the chart. The Bernhard Shulte Shipmanagement has taken a number of steps since the incident, including conducting their own investigation and circulating the findings to other vessels and additional training for the crew.