To re emphasise our commitment to safety, quality and environment, ESM went through another phase of intense activities during the past months. We integrated three systems ISO 9001 (Quality), ISO 14001 (Environment Management System) and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety) with ISM Code and revised our manuals to fully incorporate requirements stipulated by these standards.

After the document audit was completed successfully, we went about systematic implementation of the Integrated Management System (IMS) on board all our managed vessels. Training and education of our officers and crew in this new system is also being carried out in SIMS.

To qualify for the system, we had undergone two phases of audits . An initial visit of the office was carried out by the DNV auditors on 18th Oct 04 to check the level of IMS implementation in our organisation and also to check  our readiness for the final certification audit. Subsequent to this visit, we had DNV auditors on board British Vine on 1st and 2nd of November and final   office audit on 3rd and 4th of November, 2004.We successfully completed  all the scrutiny and verification to the satisfaction of our auditors and thereby achieved  this prestigious qualification.

 

ESM Staff with the Audit team at ESM Singapore Office

Congrats and a big thank you to all departments which under the guidance of our HSSE team contributed to this big success. 

A big thanks also goes to Capt. Ajay Gangaadharan and his team in British Vine for their big contribution to this achievement.

ANCHORING IN STRONG TIDE:
An LPG carrier was to anchor at a port with up to 5 knot tides around 0100 LT. The vessel approached anchorage with 3rd Officer and Bosun manning forward stations. Master and 2nd Officer were on the bridge. Starboard anchor was made ready for letting go prior vessel reached anchoring position. The vessel was turned to port to stem the tide and the engines were put astern with 2.5 knots of ebb tide running.

With the log showing 0.5 knots sternway, the starboard anchor was let go. Chain started to run out very quickly and Third Officer was ordered to put on the brake. He reported that the brake was not holding, but failed to mention lay and scope of the cable. Finally the brake took hold and the stopper was put in place, 10 out of 11 shackles having run out. The winch was put in gear, the chain was hove back to 6 shackles in the water and the anchors were screwed up.

The next morning the windlass was inspected for damage and it was found that the brake lining had almost completely burnt away requiring renewal as soon as possible. 

LESSONS LEARNT:

1. Immediate cause was the large sternway of 3 knots over ground. Ground speed was not ascertained while letting go. Speed through the water was found from the log and that over ground could have been found from the GPS.

2. Lack of communication between foc’sle and bridge regarding lay and scope of the chain was the other contributing factor, preventing use of engine to relieve the strain on the chain. Equipment limitations were not considered.

3. It was assumed wrongly that in shallow water the Doppler Log would go automatically into ground tracking mode. However this was not the case with this particular model of log.

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