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5 Cargo

Causes:Causes:

The Chief Engineer informed the Master that the “bilge The water looding was from a broken ballast water pipe,

water high level” alarm had been activated several times, which was heavily corroded. Once again the bilge well alarm

that the duty engineer had acknowledged the alarm, but didn’t work.
had not investigated the cause or informed anyone else. The

engineer thought the alarm was due to rain. Why he did not
Wet damage case study 5
investigate was unclear.
It was found that the water from the wash down had leaked The container vessel was at sea and the Chief Oficer told

into the void spaces adjacent to the cargo holds. The void space the Bosun to carry out a ballast tank inspection. The Bosun

next to the affected cargo hold had an opening connectingcompleted the inspection with an AB. They secured the
it to the cargo hold. The void spaces had no bilge alarm manhole and told the Chief Oficer that all was satisfactory

indicating water presence and when the void space was full, in the tank. The day after, the Chief Oficer began to ballast

water poured into the cargo hold. The water pressure damaged the tank. A couple of hours later the AB on watch reported
the rubber gaskets placed between the pipelines’ langesthat there was water in the cargo hold.

and started to lood other void spaces. The water then illed
Causes:
the void spaces adjacent to the cargo hold and once water
reached the level of the lower edge of manholes (openings) in It was found that the nuts of the ballast tank manhole had

longitudinal bulkheads, it started to lood the hold.not been tightened correctly, causing water to pour out.

Contamination
Wet damage case study 4
Contamination case study 1
The container vessel carried out a normal ballast operation.
Suddenly, a large volume of water looded the cargo hold. The Chief Oficer wanted to inspect some of the ballast

It was found that a ballast pipe was damaged. The pipe was tanks. He prepared the required checklist for inspection and

actually inside the cargo hold so there was no void space then gave it to the Bosun who took an AB with him and
protection. The pipe and the surrounding area were heavily then proceeded to the cargo hold to open the tank manhole

corroded. More than 10 containers were damaged. The bilge for inspection. The Bosun opened the manhole on one side

well alarm didn’t work and there was no audible or visual and the AB on the other side to save time. The AB started to
alarm on the bridge alarm panel. Bilge alarms were only remove the bolts for the manhole that he assumed were for

visible on the bridge and not in the engine control room.the ballast tank, he removed all the bolts. The Bosun had no

problem opening the manholes on his side. Suddenly the Bosun
heard a cry from the other side and realized that something

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