HURTIG

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Accident report regarding collision with car carrier published

The collision between the "Bonden" and the "Asian Breeze" on Mar 16, 2015, in Malmö happened because of poor planning, inadequate procedures and stress, the Accident Commission found out. When the "Asian Breeze" rammed the Svitzers tug dno one was injured, but both ships were damaged. The car carrier suffered damage to the bulbous bow and the The tug extensive damage to the propeller, propeller shaft and hull plates but also on top of the smokestack. Both ships had to fix the damage in a shipyard. At the time of the accident, the "Asian Breeze" had no functioning bow thruster, a fact the pilot did not know until he came on board. If he had known he would have chosen to come on board earlier and call two tugs. The "Bonden" was instructed to assist at the bow of the "Asian Breeze". The first attempt failed, and a new attempt was made when the collision occurred. All communications between the pilot and the tug were made in Swedish. The crew of the "Asian Breezes" did not speak Swedish, but the pilot translated their intructions to the tug. The language barrier may have played a role . The Accident Commission recommended the introduction of standardized national procedures regarding switching procedures between ship and tugs and to introduce English as the working language for all pilotage operations. Moreover, the recommendation was to ensure that pilots in time get all the necessary and relevant information before piloting including shortcomings of the ships. Swedish report: http://www.havkom.se/assets/reports/RS2016_01_BONDEN.pdf