Introduction
Marine surveying is the survey of marine equipment, cargo and primarily boats. Here, these are inspected and the market value and safety of this marine equipment are determined. Investigation is done for both marine incident and marine casualty for finding out what caused these. When these happens, the surveyor is interviewed. While interviewing the surveyor holds some legal rights that, the interviewer must comply with. For overcoming the analysis process of evidence, Sequential Fact Diagram is used. Using this Sequential Fact Diagram, factual report is created, which only shows the fact and not any opinions of any surveyor or any others.
Question 1
Answer:
Marine Casualty
Marine casualty is a casualty that occurred having a direct connection with a ship’s operation (Imo.org, 2018).
Marine Incident
The marine incident is an event that endangered the operations of a ship or may endanger the ships’ safety or the environment.
Though these two, marine casualty and marine incident, may seem similar, these two has differences. These differences between marine casualty and marine incident are given below-
Marine Casualty Marine Incident
An event or a sequence of events that has caused damage to the property or human life. An event or a sequence of events that may cause damage to property or human life.
If the marine casualty happens, there has been a loss or damage of property or life due to this Though marine incident has occurred, taking necessary measures loss or damage of property and life can be saved
Defines accidents that occurred and caused a casualty Defines accidents that can cause casualty in the future if necessary actions are not taken
The environment is damaged by marine casualty The risk of bringing damage rises due to a marine incident
IMO Casualty Investigation Code 2008 defines this marine casualty and marine incident.
According to the new regulations of 2010 IMO, a flag state needs to do casualty investigation. When any of the flag state ships face any casualty, the flag state does an investigation. If any flag nations’ ship faces very serious marine casualty, then the flag nation must conduct an investigation.
The new regulation was regulation 6 in chapter XI-1 of the SOLAS Convention. Thus, this SOLAS regulation XI-1/6 governs this flag state investigation.
Question 2
Answer:
Substantially Interested State
The substantially interested state is a state that defines different matters regarding casualty investigation. States such as which is the flag state or which is the coastal state involved in a marine incident or marine casualty are called Substantially Interested State. The substantially interested state defines the state whose environment was significantly damaged by marine casualty or the state where the consequences of a marine incident or casualty caused. It also means a state where due to this marine casualty; nations received serious injuries or lost their lives. This state holds important information that is useful to the marine safety investigating state for the casualty investigation. Therefore, the marine investigating state(s) are required to ensure co-operation with this.
Question 3
Answer:
The surveyor who is being interviewed by the Marine Safety Investigating State has some legal rights. Five of these legal rights have been discussed below –
- Complying with national regulation: The investigator must comply with the regulations of the surveyors’ nation and also with the Casualty Investigation code or international regulations when applicable. This is important for both the investigation outcome and the surveyor. The surveyor will not have to do something that is not in the regulations of his/ her country. Not complying with the national regulation can cause problems and by complying the investigation will be completed successfully and without any conflict.
- Surveyor is a witness: The investigator should interview surveyor only as a witness of the occurred accident. This helps the surveyor to talk about everything he/ she knows regarding the casualty incident. This results in a positive outcome for the investigation process. The interviewer can learn about everything. As surveyor is the last person prior to a marine casualty occurring, he/ she is the only person who can help in finding the casualty cause.
- Not to blame for the accident: The surveyor should not be blamed for creating the accident. This is explained in the Casualty Investigation Code that no surveyor must be blamed for accidents’ any type of aspect. The surveyor will be able to act freely due to this legal right. The surveyor will not have to worry about being caught or being punished. For this, the investigation process will run smoothly and will produce a better outcome.
- Can take legal advice before the interview: The interviewer cannot prohibit the surveyor for not taking any legal advice. It is the right of the surveyor to take legal advice if needed for the investigation. This will boost the confidence level of the surveyor and he/ she will not have to hesitate to face the interview. The surveyor can discuss more easily and freely to the interviewer. This will help in receiving information for finding out the cause of the casualty.
- Can answer if surveyor wants: Giving answers to the interviewer’s question is totally up to the surveyor. The interviewer cannot pressurize the surveyor for giving answers to questions. He/ she may say that he/ she does not know about that particular question. The surveyor can even say no comment to avoid the interview process. As a result, the surveyor will not be tensed what should he/ she answer to any particular question. If he/ she feels hesitant, the question can be ignored. For this, the investigation may suffer some damage as all the question may not be solved or remain unanswered. And, as the surveyor is that last person the case may remain unsolved.
Question 4
Answer:
A recent marine casualty, which occurred on June 2, 2015, has been selected to draw a detailed SFD and a factual report based on that SFD. On this day, June 2, 2015, fire broke out in the cargo hold of a US-flagged vehicle carrier Courage (Ntsb.gov, 2018). Due to the fire, estimated $100 million worth of property was damaged. This marine casualty has been selected because this occurred within last 10 years period and this marine casualty has attracted my interest. A detailed sequential fact diagram and a factual report based of this have been given below:
Figure 1: The approximate location showing by the red X when the fire started
Figure 2: Damage to Courage starboard side in the vicinity of the fire and the destroyed vehicles near the origin of the fire.
The information that has been collected about the marine casualty are-:
On the ramp of Deck 8 to Deck 10 of the Courage, personally owned vehicles including a 2002 Ford Escape SUV was put.
The Courage departed Bremerhaven, Germany en route to Southampton, the UK at midnight on June 1, 2015.
The vessel experienced heavy weather.
On June 2, the fire caused due to electrical arcing in the ABS module of Ford Escape.
About 2215, a smoke alarm sounded from the panel.
An able-bodied seaman (AB) investigated the alarm.
The AB told the investigators that he began to smell smoke when he was approaching towards the ladderways entrance. He saw heavy smoke coming up from below while he was on Deck 12. Then he informed his mate and told to sound the alarm.
A mate sounded the general alarm.
At 2230, the mate informed the master and he re-sounded the general alarm.
The chief engineer released the CO2 at 2250.
No one was injured in due to the fire.
Fire investigators concluded that the ABS module was the likely source of the fire.
A: Detailed Sequential Fact Diagram (SFD) Drawing
For showing events and conditions in chronogical order converging to a single outcome, a sequential fact diagram is drawn. These events and conditions have evidence thus these are fact not opinions. The sequential fact diagram of the recent marine casualty is given below:
Figure 3: Detailed Sequential Fact Diagram based on the sources located.
B: a Factual report based on SFD
Factual Report: When factual information related to a particular topic or object is written in text elaborately with explanation, that written text is called factual report. The purpose of these reports is presenting information about something that are only fact not opinion or comment of people. A factual report has been writer based on the SFD drawn. This factual report is given below:
Ford Escape vehicle was placed in the Courage vessel before it departed on June 1, 2015. It experienced heavy weather after departing. On June 2, a fire broke out due to faulty ABS module of Ford Escape vehicle. About 2215, a smoke alarm sounded from Deck 10. An AB investigated the alarm and after AB confirmed about the fire to his mate, the mate sounded the general alarm. At 2230, the master re-sounded the general alarm. The fire stopped completely after being intensified for a bit. The fire caused complete destruction to all the vehicles of Deck. The vehicles of Deck 10 and 11 also suffered some damage.
Question 5
Answer:
Circumscribing rectangular solid volume = 180 x 20 x 8.5 = 30,600 m3
Displacement Volume = 0.5 x 30,600 = 15,300 m3
Hence, displacement = 15,300 x 1.025 = 15,682.5 tonnes
The water place area = 0.6 x 180 x 20 = 2160 m2
In the less dense water, the ship must displace more water for producing a buoyancy force equal to its weight.
New volume in the less dense water = 15,682.5/ 1.010 = 15,527.23 m3
The ship will sink in the water to compensate for the added volume
Added volume = 15,527.23 – 15,300 = 227.23 m3
Sinkage = 100/ 2160 = 0.0463 m (4.63 cm)
New draught is approximately 8.55 m
Question 6
Answer:
The centre of gravity of the weight is initially 2 m above the deck. When lifted by the crane this weight will effectively be transferred to the suspension point, which is 10 m higher.
The original GM = KM – KG = 7.65 – 6.75 = 0.90 m
The new KG = {(8000 x 6.75) + (65x 10)} / 8000 = (54,000+650)/ 8000 = 6.83 m
KM remains at 7.65 m, so that the new GM = 7.65 – 6.83 = 0.82 m
Conclusion
The surveyor has some legal rights while he is giving interview or in an investigation. The surveyor should know about his/ her rights well so that he/ she do not get deprived of their legal rights. If their legal rights are violated then they can complain about that and for that, they need to know what rights they have. Other than this, while making Sequential Fact Diagram, it should be kept in mind that only facts will be part of diagram not any comment or thought. This will help in writing factual report from the SFD as that only contains facts not comments or opinions.
References
Imo.org. (2018). Casualties. [online] Available at: http://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/MSAS/Casualties/Pages/Default.aspx [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
Ntsb.gov. (2018). Fire aboard Vehicle Carrier Courage. [online] Available at: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/mab1724.aspx [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
Ntsb.gov. (2018). Marine Accident Reports. [online] Available at: https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/marine.aspx [Accessed 12 Oct. 2018].
United States Coast Guard’s management of the Marine Casualty Investigations Program. (2011). Washington, DC: Dept. of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General.