Crash boat skipper 'was drinking'

If an oil tanker was at the jetty, it could have been worse

A skipper who had been drinking crashed his trawler into a jetty at a port set to handle tankers loaded with liquefied natural gas (LNG), a report has found.

The Belgian-registered Emerald Star hit the well-lit berth at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, in January.

Damage to both was minor but the Marine Accident Investigation Branch said "the outcome could have been much worse" if an oil tanker had been alongside.

The port authority accepted staff who could have intervened were distracted.

The ship's captain was arrested after he crashed into the ChevronTexaco Number Six berth in the early evening of 18 January this year travelling at full speed.

The man continued drinking before and after being breathalysed. Prosecutors later charged him with navigating a vessel while under the influence of drink.

The crash came 15 minutes after the skipper, who has not been named but lives in Belgium, put out to sea.

Fortunately there was no oil tanker lying alongside at the jetty at the time, otherwise the outcome could have been much worse MAIB

The beam trawler has been a regular visitor to Milford Haven in the last 10 years.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report said: "Fortunately there was no oil tanker lying alongside at the jetty at the time, otherwise the outcome could have been much worse."

Two liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals are currently under construction at Milford Haven, the fifth busiest port in the UK, including the facilities to accommodate LNG tankers.

Accident investigators said: "A collision with one of these vessels could have alarming consequences."

They found the accident was caused by the skipper's impaired judgement. The trawler also had no lookout on the bridge.

Staff on land were distracted by a telephone call at the time

However, although the port's traffic management team played no part in the accident, the investigation concluded they could have intervened and possibly prevented the crash had they not been distracted by a routine phone call.

The MAIB report said the team "failed to notice Emerald Star deviating from her expected route until it was too late, therefore no intervention took place that might have averted the accident".

After striking the jetty, the Emerald Star then headed towards the sea, passing very close to other vessels, before being instructed to return.

Investigators found the port's traffic controllers did not inform other shipping that a "rogue" vessel was at large, and routine communications carried on as normal.

The MAIB report recommended an upper speed limit in the haven, procedures to cut routine phone calls to the port control office and for vessels crossing the haven to have at least two people on the bridge.

In a statement, Milford Haven Port Authority said its port control had made "significant investments in technology and staff training over many years".

It read: "Whilst it is worth re-iterating that this particular situation was caused by an individual under the influence of alcohol, we acknowledge the points raised by the MAIB report that on this occasion, the high standards that we set ourselves were not met.

"As the report states, we took a number of immediate and decisive actions as a result of the incident, and will continue to assess critically their impact.

"Our thorough internal investigations have satisfied us that this was a singular incident, and there is no evidence whatever of any endemic failure in our systems."