Erroneous ECDIS chart settings lead to grounding

摘要

A chemical tanker ran aground on a marked and charted sandbank in the early hours of the morning. The OOW was following a passage plan that had already been programmed into the ECDIS by another officer who was not fully familiar with the system. This plan was not checked prior to departure by the Master or by the OOW before he started his watch.The OOW on duty was monitoring the tanker's position solely against the intended route on the ECDIS, which was displaying an inappropriate chart scale for the location. This gave an inaccurate view of the vessel's intended passage, and did not indicate the shallow water close to the sandbank. Furthermore, the audible alarm on the ECDIS was not working, so neither the OOW nor the deck cadet acting as lookout were warned in enough time to avoid the ship grounding It took the OOW a full 19 minutes to realise what had happened. The vessel sustained superficial damage and remained grounded for three hours.