Marine Occurrence report 232 - Australian Transport Safety Bureau

DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL INFORMATION
Report No.
232
Publication Date
May 2008
No. of pages
48
ISBN
978 1 921490 20 0
ISSN
1447-087X
Publication Title
Independent investigation into the breakaway and grounding of the Hong Kong registered bulk
carrier Creciente at Port Hedland, Western Australia on 12 September 2006.
Prepared by
Australian Transport Safety Bureau
PO Box 967, Civic Square ACT 2608 Australia
www.atsb.gov.au
Acknowledgements
Figure 3 courtesy of DigitalGlobe Pty Ltd.
Figure 10 courtesy of Eurasia Shipping.
Reference No.
May2008/Infrastructure 08126
The chart section in this publication is reproduced by permission of the Australian Hydrographic
Service. © Commonwealth of Australia 13 October 2002. All rights reserved. Other than for the
purposes of copying this publication for public use, the chart information from the chart sections
may not be extracted, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine readable form
for incorporation into a derived product, in whole or part, without the prior written consent of the
Australian Hydrographic Service.
Abstract
At 1730 on 10 September 2006, the Hong Kong registered bulk carrier Creciente berthed in Port
Hedland, Western Australia, to load a cargo of iron ore.
At about 0245 on 12 September, the almost fully laden ship broke away from the wharf under the
influence of a strong ebb tide.
Despite the use of several tugs and the ship’s engine, it was not possible to manoeuvre the ship
back alongside the wharf. The harbour master decided to hold the ship in the deepest part of the
port’s entrance channel until the next high tide.
By about 0615 on 12 September, the ship was firmly aground in the channel and, at about 0950, it
was successfully refloated.
The ATSB investigation found that the effective holding capacity of the ship’s mooring winch
brakes was reduced by the number of layers of mooring line on the winch drums and the poor
condition of their brakes. The investigation also found that it was highly likely that the brakes had
not been sufficiently tightened and that the mooring winches were not effectively monitored in the
time leading up to the incident.
The investigation also found that neither the port authority nor the ship’s master had identified the
possibility of the ship breaking away from its berth and appropriately assessed the risks associated
with this potential hazard.
The report issues two recommendations and five safety advisory notices to address the identified
safety issues.
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