Call for tighter shipping safety

The MAIB criticised "minimal manning"

Fatigue and too few officers on watch are to blame for dozens of ships sinking or running aground on the UK coastline, according to a report.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) study was set up after the cargo ship Jambo sank off Wester Ross in Scotland last June.

Research into 65 collisions revealed a late detection or failure to detect small vessels due to lookout problems.

The MAIB has called for a tightening of watchkeeping and lookout procedures.

The German-owned Jambo was carrying 3,300 tonnes when it went down after striking rocks near the entrance to Loch Broom.

'Similar accidents'

The MAIB reported last December that a chief officer had fallen asleep while alone on the bridge and that a seaman assigned to the watch had been absent from the bridge for at least an hour before the vessel got into difficulties.

Friday's report found the Jambo incident was "the latest in a series of remarkably similar accidents, the common features of which included fatigued officers, one-man bridge operation at night, missed course alterations and no watch alarms".

The MV Jambo sank in June last year

The MAIB added that the study had confirmed "that minimal manning, consisting of a master and a chief officer as the only two watchkeeping officers on vessels operating around the UK coastline, leads to watchkeeper fatigue and the inability of the master to fulfil his duties, which, in turn, frequently lead to accidents".

The report went on: "It [the study] has also found that standards of lookout in general are poor, and late detection or failure to detect small vessels is a factor in many collisions."

Current regulations for safe manning, hours of work and lookout were not effective, it concluded.

The recommendations to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency are an attempt to get the International Maritime Organisation to review regulations.

Among the recommendations was that all merchant vessels over 500 gross tonnes should have a minimum of a master (skipper) plus two bridge watchkeeping officers.

The MAIB has also called for tighter regulations on the posting of lookouts on the bridge of vessels.