200145 Major Failure of Mooring Equipment

Major Failure of Mooring Equipment
Report No. 200145

A vessel was berthed port side to and loading hazardous cargo. An offshore wind of force 5 was blowing and the moorings needed to be tended frequently to keep the vessel alongside. The forward back spring was leading through the port "Old Man" onto the port warping drum. Whilst this was being heaved tight the complete structure of the "Old Man" suddenly broke away from the deck plating. The mooring rope sprang off with a jerk causing the fairlead above the "Old Man" to come off it's spindle and hit the port warping drum. The warping drum broke and the "Old Man" hit a fan suction pipe support bracket. It was very fortunate that no crew members were hurt in this incident and that no sparks were caused which could have ignited the cargo.

It is very important to inspect the bases of such mooring equipment and a doubler plate should be fitted under all such equipment.