COOL EXPRESO

General information

Course/Position

Latest news

Leakage in engine room

The 'Cool Expreso', being en route from Misurata to the Faeroes islands with 13 crew members on board, suffered a leakage on a joint in the main engine in position 52 50 24 N, 005 23 34.8 W, on March 24, 2020, at 3.40 p.m. Rrepairs were carried out and the leak was contained at 4 p.m. The reefer resumed its voyage. It dropped anchor off Torshavn on March 27 at 12.35 a.m. in pos. 61° 59.33' N 006° 41.14' W.

Fatal accident on sea investigated

The Dutch Safety Board has issued a report investigating a fatal accident onboard the "Cool Expreso" which occurred on Aug 7, 2014, during a transfer of pallets containing frozen fish packages from the fishing vessel "Annelies Ilena" at sea. At the end of the shift, the final pallet was labelled by an "Annelies Ilena" crew member on board of the "Cool Expreso". The pallet shifted and trapped the crew member between the railing and the pallet, fatally wounding the crew member. Following this incident, the Dutch Safety Board launched an investigation. Following the investigation, the Board considered it likely that the deceased crew member became trapped between the platform containing pallets and railing when the pallet was hoisted while the crew member was still attaching labels. The standard practice was to attach the pallets to crane only after labeling had finished. During the incident, to get themselves ready for return to their own vessel, the platform containing pallets was attached before labeling was finished. The crane driver could not see the victim from his position. Had someone given hand signals to the crane driver, this problem would have been solved. None of the crane drivers both on the "Annelies Ilena" and on the "Cool Expreso" had much experience with crane activities as carried out on board the reefer ship. Although transfer at sea was considered a high-risk operation by the fishing vessel's crew, no safety meeting took place, which meant that possible risks were not identified. Even when one of the ships as no SMS, a safety meeting should take place and a more active role is expected from the crew used to working with an SMS. The safety measures that were present, as described in the "Cool Expreso" SMS, were therefore not discussed or applied. The SMS prescribed that crane operations should be supported by someone who gives hand signals to the crane driver. Lessons learned from the incident In spite of the fact that the "Annelies Ilena"-crew considered the transfer at sea, which involves crane activities , as being a high-risk operation, no safety meeting was held. Crane activitiew can be performed more safely by identifying risks and applying present safety measures during implementation of these activities, Full report: http://www.onderzoeksraad.nl/uploads/phase-docs/1121/2bf2ed16223ab-rapport-annelies-ilena-en.pdf