MAIB Blames Poor Planning in CMA CGM Vessel Grounding

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released a report highlighting the multiple errors in planning that led to the 17,859 TEU CMA CGM Vasco de Gama becoming grounded whilst approaching ABP's Port of Southampton. Vasco de Gama, a 399-metre long ultra-large containership — the largest UK-flagged vessel at the time, had two of the port’s specialist container ship pilots onboard when it ran aground on a rising tide and on a flat shingle sea-bed in the early hours of the morning on August 22, 2016. A combination of tugs and ship’s engines enabled it to be re-floated soon after grounding on the western side of the Thorn Channel . MAIB found that the vessel’s bridge team and the port’s pilots had the "experience, knowledge and resources available to plan and execute the passage effectively", but that the standards of navigation, communication and effective use of the electronic charting aids onboard did not meet the expectations of the port or the company. MAIB added that a detailed plan had not been produced, the lead pilot had not briefed his plan for the turn round Bramble Bank, and the bridge team’s roles and responsibilities were “unclear”.