IMO calls for truth on casualty cases

Citation

(1999), "IMO calls for truth on casualty cases", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308eab.002

IMO calls for truth on casualty cases

IMO calls for truth on casualty cases

Heavy weather should not be used as a blanket excuse to disguise the real reason behind marine casualties, William O'Neil, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation, said on Thursday 24 September 1998.

Speaking at the IMO head quarters as the Organisation celebrated World Maritime Day and the 50th anniversary of its institution, Mr O'Neil said that there was a public indifference to most marine casualties, with only the most spectacular, or those involving major pollution, attracting any attention.

The secretary-general suggested that the time was ripe to look more closely at categories of marine accident as they were presented in databases, with particular attention to the real reasons for accidents to ships which had become casualties that were attributable to "weather".

Capable

Ships and crews, he said, "should be capable of withstanding all weather". He suggested that there was a need to look more closely at the proximate reasons of a casualty, and in the case of a "weather" casualty, upon the handling or the design of the ship.

The secretary-general said that IMO, as part of the commemoration of the organisation's first half-century, was to establish a trust fund designed to honour seafarers.

This would be used to erect an international seafarers' memorial at IMO headquarters, establish a chair of maritime safety and pollution prevention at the World Maritime University in Malmoe, and provide fellow ships to students at selected maritime training institutes around the world.

The proposal for the fund had been put forward by Mr O'Neil and had been given unanimous approval by the IMO Council. There had been a positive response in an indication of donations that would be made from both shipping companies and institutions. The trust fund, said Mr O'Neil, would recognise seafarers and the contribution that they made to the international community. He urged governments, industry organisations, shipping companies, operators and entities associated with IMO to contribute generously to the IMO trust fund.

Sparked

Meanwhile, Brilliant Corners - the Panama flag capsize which sparked a major search and rescue scramble after radio contact was lost on 28 September 1998 - has been found safe and sound. It now appears the 1981 built 105,496dwt vessel suffered communication equipment failure near St Helena, while en route from the US port of Hampton Roads in Virginia to the South African port of Richards Bay, while carrying a cargo of 97,580 tonnes of coal.

Inmarsat A voice and satellite connections were restored yesterday afternoon, putting the ship once again in touch with the shore. It appears that no other defects were suffered by the ship. During the panic, Brazil sent out a search and rescue aircraft, while a Royal Air Force Tristar flying from the Falklands to Ascension also assisted.

The vessel - whose 22 strong crew included a British master, Croatian chief engineer and Filipino ratings - is reportedly operated by MOL Tankership Co. of Japan.

After a spate of capsize losses in the early 1990s, casualties among vessels of this type are now comparatively rare. According to bulk carrier owners' Organisation Intercargo, no capsize vessel has been lost since 1996.

Safety concern is now focused on smaller handymax bulk carriers.

(Lloyd's Casualty Week, Vol. 314 No. 1, 2 October 1998).