201132 Cargo shift during discharge caused large list

As a port captain, I was in charge of a small cargo vessel that was discharging steel coils at a wharf. Overnight, I had delegated my chief foreman to oversee the discharging under my guidance. At around 0200 hours, I received an urgent phone call from him, informing me that the vessel had listed very dangerously and could be in danger of capsizing.

I immediately rushed to the port, and on reaching the berth, noticed that the vessel was listed about 25 degrees to the shore (port) side. All the ship's crew, including the Master and chief officer, had safely mustered on the jetty. Upon enquiry, it was confirmed that there were still about 50 coils (about 1000 mt) to discharge. After donning a life-vest, safety harness, other PPE and taking a portable light, I went aboard alone to investigate the cause of the list.

On looking into the open hatch of the hold from which the cargo was being discharged, I found that the steel coils had all rolled and piled up on the port side of the hold. I summoned two volunteer stevedores to enter the hold with the necessary PPE, and, with the help of a shore crane, we started discharging the steel coils from the port side. As the list began to decrease, the chief officer also joined us and in between slinging the coils, we jammed wooden wedges and assorted dunnage under the remaining free coils. As the situation came under control, the chief officer was advised to take ballast in bottom tanks on the starboard (high) side. Later, the ballast was equalized by topping up the tanks on the port side, until the vessel returned to the upright.

Root cause/contributory factors
The coils had not been chocked off with wooden wedges at the loading port;
During the night, the vessel had started rolling slightly due to the swell;
Once the locking steel coil was discharged and the stow became loose, the coils began to move out of control;
With the ship's movement alongside, an initial movement of some coils to port started a cascade effect, whereby a rapidly developing port list caused all the remaining coils to roll over to the low (port) side.

Lessons learnt
Vessels loading coils and similar products must ensure that the cargo is stowed tight and that enough wooden wedges are used beneath and to the sides of every unit to prevent rolling of cargo.