MARS 201169 Unplanned deviation led to grounding

摘要

Just after sunset on a calm evening, a large inbound container ship was approaching the pilot boarding position about a mile NE of the harbour's breakwater entrance. As the pilot was to transfer from an outbound coastal tanker, he instructed the container ship to move to the starboard side (west) of the recommended track to avoid the tanker and maintain minimum speed, which, for this vessel was 7 knots. As soon as the tanker had exited the breakwater, the pilot's launch transferred him to the container ship. This operation lasted nearly eight minutes, by which time the vessel was very close to the breakwater and nearly parallel with it.