Larger vessels make collision risk even greater

摘要

Among many issues facing the sector that were discussed at Riviera Maritime Media's 2015 European Dynamic Positioning Conference in London in June was the risk of a collision between a vessel and a platform. The conference took place not long after the UK Health & Safety Executive (HSE) published an enforcement notice regarding an incident in which a platform supply vessel (PSV), Sea Falcon, struck a platform in the North Sea, putting workers at risk. The incident happened at Apache's Forties Echo platform in the Forties oil field in March 2015. Sea falcon's owner. Deep Sea Supply, was issued with an improvement notice as a result. The HSE said Sea Falcon entered the 500m safety zone at what it described as 'excessive speed' (that is, at a speed of in excess of 4 knots when guidelines recommended a speed of not more than 0.5 knots). The ship hit the platform, causing significant damage to both the topside and the ship itself.