Pasha Bulker 243 - Independent investigation into the grounding of ...

DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL INFORMATION
Report No. Publication Date No. of pages ISBN ISSN
243 May 2008 104 978-1-921490-14-9 1447-087X
Publication Title
Independent investigation into the grounding of the Panamanian registered bulk carrier Pasha
Bulker on Nobbys Beach, Newcastle, New South Wales on 8 June 2007.
Prepared by
Australian Transport Safety Bureau
PO Box 967, Civic Square ACT 2608 Australia
www.atsb.gov.au
Reference No.
May2008/Infrastructure 08105
Acknowledgements
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.
Photographs or images used in the report are courtesy of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority
(Figures 9, 10, 11 and 13) and Port Waratah Coal Services (Figure 23).
Abstract
On 23 May 2007, the Panamanian registered bulk carrier Pasha Bulker anchored 2.4 miles off the
coast near Newcastle, New South Wales. The ship had sufficient water ballast on board for the
good weather at the time, and was not expected to load its coal cargo for about three weeks.
At midday on 7 June, Pasha Bulker’s master veered more anchor cable after a gale warning was
issued. The weather deteriorated and shortly after midnight, the wind had reached gale force.
At 0500 on 8 June, the wind had increased to strong gale force and the weather was severe. At
0625, Pasha Bulker started to drag its anchor. The master decided to put to sea and at 0748, the
anchor was aweigh. The ship was now 1.2 miles from the shore and, with the southeast wind fine
on the starboard bow, it made good a north-easterly course. At 0906, the master altered the ship’s
course to starboard to put the wind on the port bow in an attempt to make good a southerly course
on a south-southeasterly heading. However, its heading became south-westerly and, with the wind
on the port beam, the ship started to rapidly approach the coast.
At 0931, with Nobbys Beach 0.8 of a mile away, the master attempted a starboard turn. The
manoeuvre did not succeed and at 0946, with grounding imminent, he requested assistance from
authorities ashore. At 0951, Pasha Bulker grounded on Nobbys Beach and the ship’s momentum
carried it further onto the beach. The crew were evacuated by helicopter during the afternoon.
On 2 July, Pasha Bulker was successfully refloated. The ship was temporarily repaired in
Newcastle and on 26 July, taken in tow to Vietnam to undergo permanent repairs.
The report identifies a number of safety issues and issues recommendations or safety advisory
notices to address them.
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