Regular Checks of Hawsers on Viking Rosella

Work environment and safety in shipping YEAR 37 1 /13

Theme: Hawsers and lashing straps

Regular checks of hawsers on Viking Rosella ...... 1 Research...... 4 Dirt and damage reduce strength...... 2 The Transport Agency Informs ...... 5 Rope-makers with years of experience...... 3 Profile: Annelie Rusth Jensen...... 6 Time to change the hawser...... 3 In brief ...... 7 Sanhas the floor ...... 4 San tips ...... 4

Regular checks of hawsers on Viking Rosella

Every week the mooring equipment on Viking Rosella is checked, but it still happens that hawsers break. Sun, cold and seawater wear the materials and it is sometimes difficult to know when it is time to change the hawsers. The securing straps on the vehicle deck are used more sporadically and manage better.

There are piles of hawsers coiled on the deck. Repairs can be seen here and there in the coarse ropes. ”We try to keep costs down by shorte- ning and splicing quite a lot,” says the chief mate, Anders Aspholm. ”But if something starts to look too worn we replace it directly – we don’t take any chances.” The winter sun warms slightly and the Hawsers on Viking Rosella water is still. On a day like this is not necessary to have any extra mooring ropes to keep Rosella in place at the quay once a week and equipment is replaced motorised, they are OK. But here, where in Kapellskär outside Norrtälje. But the between these checks if necessary. And they have to be pulled by hand and put weather can turn quickly and with more yet hawsers still break occasionally. ”Yes, over the bollards on the deck, it is heavy arrivals each day there is a lot of wear on they do. During a very windy autumn work.” On the quarterdeck, the haw- the equipment. a hawser may break every month if we sers are reinforced by straps in the part ”We always moor in the same place have bad luck, but as far as I know, there that runs through the hawsehole. Anders with the starboard side against the quay, is nobody here onboard who has been explains that a few years ago, a couple of and the hawsers always wear in the same injured in connection with such a break. seamen in the crew put straps into the place in the hawsehole,” says Anders. Cables may also break, but then it is most hawsers to strengthen them in places ”We have extra protection where they often inside the swab.” with a lot of wear. He lifts a hawser that have the most friction, but they still is lying loose on the deck and shows how wear.” Short crossing it is done. “It is sometimes difficult to decide Most mooring ropes used on the Rosel- ”You pull the strands apart and put the when it is time to change a hawser,” la are traditional Atlas types. strap between them,” he says and opens says Anders. He tells us that according ”Atlas hawsers are rather awkward and the hawser. ”In this way it becomes to the maintenance program, Amos, the difficult to work with,” says Anders. ”On much stronger. The guys that thought of mooring equipment is checked through more modern boats where everything is this were given a reward by the Swedish place. But there is much less lashing now difficult to keep up.” than there was before when Rosella used Anders says that they follow the instruc- to cross between Helsinki and Tallinn,” tions in the cargo securing manual, which says Anders. is available in several copies onboard. The The crossing to Åland takes two and a most recent version is dated May 2012 half hours and there is not so much open and contains everything, from descrip- sea. But the load still needs to be secured at times. ”There is not as much lashing now Anders Aspholm. ”We get weather reports all the time and if the wind approaches 13 or 14 met- as there used to be” Mercantile Marine Foundation for their res a second, it is time to do the lashing. invention.” If it has been windy for long, the sea may tions of various lashing techniques to the The vehicle deck below is empty apart be very old too. We have no stabilizers checking and maintenance of materials. from a provisions truck, which is driving and she rolls like a soap-dish in the sea,” ”There is a lot of very good information off after unloading the goods. Along the says Anders. in it,” says Anders. ”But to be frank, we bulkheads there are a few securing straps, ”At the moment it is calm, but we have don’t often look at it. Those who work but they do not need to be used on many reports that the wind may get harder here know how to do it, but of course, if crossings. towards the afternoon so we might need there is a new mate we show him where ”We have perhaps five trailers of the to lash the cargo yet. We try to secure the the manual is kept.” week, an average of four HGV trucks per load as the vehicles drive on board, but if Linda Sundgren journey and sometimes we strap stands in there are many on the crossing it can be

Dirt and damage reduce strength

A dirty strap has significantly less strength than a clean strap, and chains with defor- Hawsers and chains which should be med links should not be used. Tests of lashing materials show that worn equip- discarded ment does not have the strength that the marking indicates.

In the past, you could count on the total capacity of the strap or chain when lashing cargo. If it was damaged or worn, on the other hand, Edge damage it would be discarded immediately. Today, it is permitted to load equipment to a maximum of 50 % of its total capacity. In contrast, the rules for when it must be replaced are more flexible and now rules state that ”only serviceable materials with the required strength” may be used. But what that means in practice can be difficult to decide. In 2009 the Swedish Trans- port Agency gave the consultancy company Knot on hawser Mariterm the task of testing the strength of used straps and chains. Their study did not give any clear answers. ”No, it is not possible to say anything in general,” says Peter Andersson at Mariterm, who took part in the testing. ”But one of the main con- Teared hawsers clusions we drew is that not only does damage affect the strength, but also dirt. On the other hand, the age of lashing straps does not seem to have any effect.” The tests were performed on lashing materials that shipping companies gathered from their ships and handed in. Most of them had already been discarded and were taken out of service, Skew chain some had major breaks and wear damage, while

continues on page 8

2 San-nytt 1/13 Rope-makers with years of experience

Choosing designs and materials based on the type of vessel, the traf- fic area and the equipment onboard is crucial for mooring ropes to have the longest possible service life. Three experts that SAN News has met say the same thing.

A smell of tar hangs over the rope-maker’s premises just outside central Norrköping. The company has produced hawsers since the end of the 19th century and is now the only manufacturer of twisted rope on a large scale. Tore Dahlström has been in the industry since the 1980s. His business colleagues from Certex Svenska AB in Gothenburg, Mikael Jonsson and Ken- neth Johnsson, have been going since the 1970s. Over the years, they have acqui- red sound knowledge and experience of Tore Dahlström, Mikael Jonsson, Kenneth Johnsson mooring ropes. Hawsers are available in a number of variants with different charac- light? Must it float? Should it stretch or be be more expensive in the long run.” teristics, depending on the design and the inelastic? Will it be used on a mechanical On the desktop in Westerberg’s office type of fibres. winch? We need to know the priorities, there are samples of hawsers in different ”It is important to know what is wan- but we often help out to make the result materials. Some are heavy and rigid, oth- ted for the ship when ordering a new as good as possible for the customer.” ers light and flexible. In Scandinavia the hawser,” says Kenneth. ”It must be dura- ”Yes, but on the other hand many six-strand hawser in wear-resistant polya- ble, of course, but there are many other people choose hawsers only on the basis mide fibre (for example, the Atlas hawser) things to take into account. Should it be of their price,” interrupts Tore. ”But it can with a high breaking load and elasticity is

continues on page 8 Time to change the hawser ference of the hawser at regular intervals. fact sunlight wears hawsers and breaks • Burned fibres. Hawsers vary in terms down the fibres. UV-exposed hawsers of heat resistance and the melting point become rough and the fibres break when may vary depending on what fibre the the hawser is bent. But a hawser that is hawser is made of. During high loads only marginally affected by UV and has in the hawse or the winch drum, heat a furry surface can even be stronger than damage may occur inside the hawser an unaffected hawser. This is because the that is not always visible on the outside. fluff acts as protection against abrasion A hawser that has burned feels hard and and the hawser can slide more easily rigid. Open up the hawser and check the through the hawse. Hawsers that lie on Various of hawsers interior. In the case of internal burns, the the deck should always be protected from hawser must be discarded. sunlight and covered with a tarpaulin. Rope experts Tore Dahlström, • Defective strands. If a strand is bro- • Acid damage. There are a number of Mikael Jonsson and Kenneth Johns- ken the hawser must be discarded. If it is chemicals onboard that can negatively son give the following advice about not entirely broken the hawser does not affect synthetic materials. How resistant a when to replace a mooring hawser. necessarily need to be discarded, but the hawser is to corrosive and alkali substan- crew should be aware of the fact that it ces depends on what synthetic material • Reduced circumference. When the has a reduced breaking load. it is made of. The basic rule, however, is circumference has decreased by 25 per • Knots. If a hawser has been knotted always that the hawser should not come cent, it is definitely time to scrap the in the middle, the breaking load may be into contact with these substances. hawser. To check this should you mea- reduced by up to 50% and it must be • Stretching. The more a hawser is sure a new hawser after it has been discarded. The fibres in the hawser are stretched, the greater is the risk that it stretched to its working load. Measure weakened by the friction that knots give will break. the circumference at the highest point rise to. Linda Sundgren and the lowest point, and then take the • Sunlight. Today all synthetic haw- average of these two. Check the circum- sers are UV-stabilized, but despite this

San-nytt 1/13 3 ~ SAN HAS THE FLOOR ~ ”Continued focus on work environment”

Welcome to a new year with SAN News! mooring in Holmsund in summer 2011. checks of ropes and removing any that Our ambition this year, as before, is to When the ship was pressed against the are damaged – as they do on Viking try to contribute to the focus on the work quayside the after bow spring line broke. Rosella – significantly reduces the risk of environment onboard and to monitor The chief mate was hit on the head by accidents. This is something you can read how the industry is working to improve the hawser and died immediately. Only a about in this issue. conditions at sea. In this issue we have couple of weeks later there was a similar We also present another perennial chosen to highlight an area which is incident on the British-flagged container- topic, namely chemicals management. both desirable and necessary, namely feeder Fremantle Express. When mooring On page 7 you can read about Annelie mooring equip- in Veracruz Rusth Jensen at Transatlantic and the ment and cargo in Mexico, a extensive work she has done to reduce straps. Ropes ”chemicals is a hot topic” hawser snap- the use of hazardous chemicals onboard. and cables that ped and a sea- Happy reading! break can lead to serious injuries and man lost his life. Regarding the accident Linda Sundgren/editor of SAN News damage. Only a month ago, on 16 Janu- on the Fremantle Express, the accident ary, a 20-year-old Russian seaman died report by MAIB (Marine Accident on a Cyprus-flagged ship at the quay in investigation branch) stated that the Husum, Örnsköldsvik. He was struck on hawser was so worn that it had only 66 the head by a mooring rope that snapped. % of its original strength left. This was, At the hospital they stated that he had of course, part of the reason it broke. But probably died immediately. The event a hawser need not be in bad condition to was reported as an occupational accident fail; even new mooring ropes can break if and is currently being investigated by the the load on them is too large. police. If you look through the Insjö list During a visit to a ropeyard in Norr- of incidents and accidents, you will find köping, we learned a lot about different many examples of mooring devices that characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, have broken. If anybody happens to be of different mooring ropes. It is not pos- standing in the way of a recoiling rope, sible to say anything in general about the result is often very serious. Such as when it is time to replace a hawser, said when the Dutch ship Morraborg was the experts that we met. But regular

”The shipping company’s costs for ~ RESEARCH ~ chemicals have decreased between 5-10 % per year since this started” New test predicts

Annelie Rusth Jensen on Transatlantic’s and Viking Supply fatigue Ships’ work to reduce the use of chemicals onboard. The research project called Horizon investigates how different watch systems ~ SAN TIPS ~ influence the fatigue factor onboard, both on the deck and in the engine Order SAN’s work environment Measuring job satisfaction room. The researchers have developed a notebook! prototype of a tool called Martha, which The Swedish Work Environment Aut- estimates the fatigue factor in advance. Surely you have not missed the fact hority has produced an interactive self- For more information about Martha and that you can order SAN’s popular note- evaluation tool which can be used to to download the tool for testing, go to book completely free of charge? The examine the psychosocial environment http://www.warsashacademy.co.uk/. The notebook comes in a convenient for- at your workplace. The tool was deve- Horizon research project is organised mat that is easy to put into your overall loped as part of the 2012 EU campaign by Chalmers University of Technolo- pocket. You can make a note in it if an on risk assessments of the psychosocial gy, Warsash Maritime University, Sout- accident happens or if you notice any work environment. hampton Solent University and the Stress shortcomings onboard. The notebook You can find it at http://www.av.se/Aktu- Research Institute at Stockholm Univer- can be ordered at [email protected]. ellt/eu_kampanj/ sity, together with eight other companies You can read more about it on our web- and authorities. site at www.san-nytt.

4 San-nytt 1/13 ~ THE TRANSPORT AGENCY INFORMS ~

The Transport Agency is spreading Mooring among most Mooring accidents information about important events in the industry. The whole text can dangerous events at sea retrieved in Insjö/ForeSea be found at www.transportstyrelsen. In recent time, a number of serious events Problems during mooring can be confir- se. It can also be read in English at have occurred during mooring when med by a search in the industry’s accident www.san-nytt.se. hawsers have snapped. On a couple of and incident reporting system, Insjö/ occasions in recent years, deaths have ForeSea. Here are couple of examples of occurred. It is not possible to over-emp- mooring accidents retrieved from the hasize the need for risk assessment of system. the work situation at mooring stations. Man killed when brake released It is advisable, for example, to mark areas During mooring work when passing that should be avoided when hawsers are locks, the ship began to move aft and under tension. Factors which may affect the after bow spring line was stretched. the sequence of events include: The drum on which the line was laid • Inappropriately designed equipment was braked and disengaged because the that allows errors to occur (too strong cam was being used for another hawser. and too long guide pin in one case). A crewman went forward to release the Broken cooling line. • Incorrect positioning of hawsers. brake, which caused the line to run out • Risky places for seamen to carry out of control. The rear end came loose and mooring work. struck the crewman on the head. He was Cooling hoses split • Worn hawsers. thrown against the base of the capstan On a small ship, the skipper had been in and died immediately. The crucial factor the engine room to make checks and saw was that the brake was released when the no faults. An hour later the fire alarm capstan was disengaged and there was a went off in the engine room. It turned Broken hawser caused large force on the mooring line. out that the main engines had lost their death Insjö/ForeSea id 684 coolant when the hoses from the engine block to the electrical engine heater had When mooring, the bow line was laid burst. The water vapour that formed had around the bollards, and the machine Broken hawser led to triggered the fire detector. A likely cause slowly pulled the ship in towards the improved procedures of the accident is that cold water was berth. The hawser snapped and hit a sea- sucked into the seawater inlet filter, froze man, who was injured so severely that he During mooring work, the eye on an into ice, blocked the inlet and thus limi- died on the way to hospital. after bow spring line broke. The end was ted the cooling of the engines. This led SLma 16.03 TSS 2013-144 thrown up onto the forecastle and almost to overheating of the hoses, which con- hit the bosun. He was unscathed, but the tributed to their failure. Another factor end of the hawser hit an open manhole may have been that the coolant had been Misplaced hawser hit cover, which was damaged. The incident replaced with a more corrosive type. The seaman was due to the eye on the hawser being problem has arisen a number of times worn. Since the accident, routines have before at the shipping company. If the A ship was in the process of mooring. been introduced to regularly check the coolant or type of hose is replaced, there A seaman was on the foredeck with his hawsers and a proposal has been made for is good reason to contact the supplier. relief, who was undergoing introduction. a protective bar around the place where SFu 06.05.02 TSS 2012-3947 The mate was on the quay and put the the capstan is controlled. hawsers on the bollards. The aim was to Insjö/ForeSea id 38 moor using a after bow spring line, a bow Warning for pirate-copied line, a forward quarter spring line and a equipment stern line in that order. When the bow See also the following link about acci- spring line was in place and the mate had dents during mooring. In a circular the IMO warns about fal- the bow line on the bollard, the bow line http://www.ukpandi.com/fileadmin/uploads/ sely manufactured safety and emergency was going to be wound in. When it was uk-pi/ LP%20Documents/LP_Reports/Under- equipment. The products are cheaper stretched, it loosened from the brytar- standing- MooringIncidents.pdf than the originals, but are always poo- kung and hit the seaman on the chest, rer quality and have not undergone the face and head. The seaman was injured standards controls required. They include and an ambulance had to be called. It tur- hydrostatic releases, pyrotechnic man- ned out that the hawser had been put on overboard lights, smoke signals, lifebu- the wrong side of the brytarkung and was oy lights or even water for emergency only held in place by a guide pin (there rations in life rafts. In addition, some of only to prevent the hawser from falling the equipment has invalid expiry dates down onto the deck when slack). When or has been taken from scrapped ships, the hawser was wound in it put pressure cleaned up and marked with a new date. on the guide pin, which came loose. IMO MSC.1/Circ.1420 SFu 06.05.02 TSS 2012-4103

San-nytt 1/13 5 ~ PROFILEN ~ Annelie clears out the chemical stores The use of unhealthy cleaning liquids on Transatlantic’s and Viking Supply Ships’ vessels has been reduced by over 90 %. The shipping company is now going to look over glues and paints. The project is being run by Annelie Rusth Jensen, who has worked with the issue for over five years.

When Annelie started at Transatlantic she made a list of the chemicals in the cleaning agents used on some of the ships. She found that there were many toxic and environmentally harmful products onboard and the ship often used different agents for the same purpose. An action plan was drawn up to reduce the number of suppliers, replace toxic products with ”softer” alternatives and Anneli Rusth Jensen rensar i kemikalieförråden. arrange the same list of chemicals for all of the ships. the list. Then you have to apply for using product they describe. ”Using the same products on all the a particular product and we issue a tem- ”I would have liked to see personnel ships is very important. Otherwise porary approval in writing,” says Annelie. reading through safety data sheets every employees must read up on new pro- The company has also installed dosing time they use a product. But they are 8 to ducts every time they change boat,” says devices for the washing machines 12 pages long and I am quite sure they Annelie. onboard. It gave immediate results. wouldn’t do it,” says Annelie. Together with the suppliers and ”Most ships have halved their con- The company has also produced A3 onboard personnel, it has been decided sumption of washing powder, but one sheets for every department, which lists which products will be used and for what. ship has reduced its use by 80 %. In addi- the most commonly used chemicals ”For us, it has been very important to tion to using less detergent, the crew does along with a brief description of proper- have the crews involved in this work. not have to handle powder, which they ties and protection requirements. They know what they need and should can breathe in as well as getting on their ”If they want to put them up, they do, not feel that this is something that we skin,” says Annelie. but we do not force them to. We don’t have invented in the office and are for- Annelie has now gone on to work with work with orders, but with rewards and cing on them.” The work with cleaning glues. The first step of making an inven- encouragement.” agents has led to new lists of products tory is completed and she notes that Initially the work with chemicals meant that are allowed to be purchased. there is a lot to do here, too. a great deal of work for Annelie. But in a ”In a few extreme cases, such as a ”So far I have only scratched the surfa- longer perspective, she is convinced that major oil spill, it may be necessary to buy ce, but I have already found one product this will lead to a reduction in the total stronger agents that are not included on that contains carcinogenic substances. I amount of work. In addition, the ship- contacted the supplier, who had an equi- ping company’s costs for chemicals have valent adhesive that was not as harmful been reduced by 5 to 10 % each year since to health.” she started the scheme. Annelie Rusth Jensen Much information ”There are fewer purchases and we do Age: 53 Finding good substitute products is not have as many suppliers and products Family: Married, three children. rarely a problem, says Annelie. to keep track of. We also keep costs down Lives: Varberg ”The more we demand, the greater will by buying in larger quantities and conso- Job: Sustainability coordinator on be the supply. As a customer we have lidating the transport to ships. When it Viking Supply Ships and Transatlantic good opportunities to influence develop- comes to detergent, the installation cost Current: Works to reduce the use of ment.” of the dosing devices was not more than chemicals on board. The spreading of information is a key about 8,000 kronor per machine, so the Background: Quality-, environme- part of the shipping company’s chemi- investment repaid itself quickly.” nt- and safety conductor. cal work. Single sheets with a warning Linda Sundgren Work environment tip: Think symbol and the protective equipment ahead and minimize the risks required for a given product have been produced. The information sheets are in A6 format and are placed next to the

6 San-nytt 1/13 continuing from page 2 ~ IN BRIEF ~ others were in better condition. The always up to scratch, which was a little Fewer deaths in maritime trade damage was found to affect lashing surprising. On the whole, you can rely Within the maritime trade, one person was straps in different ways, depending on on the label on the straps, but there killed in 2012 compared with three in the the type of wear they had. Damaged are many manufacturers and suppliers previous year. There was also a decrease in edges reduced their strength, as well as and it may be a good idea to stick to the number of people killed on the roads, folding marks straight across the straps. those you know are good,” says Peter although there was a slight increase in the Stretching damage, however, showed Andersson. rail sector. These are preliminary figures no clear pattern. Chains were also tested. They proved from the Swedish Transport Agency. ”Sometimes we were surprised that a to be much more durable than lashing (Transport Agency) lashing strap broke despite the fact that straps and despite rust and dirt, many it looked in good condition. But it could of them had the same capacity as when App for seafarers also be the other way round, that it was they were new. Their weak points were The Seaman’s Foundation has developed much stronger than we expected,” says hooks and attachments, which did not a free offline-app called ”Shore leave”. Peter Andersson. always manage the strains they were This makes it possible for seafarers to store Straps with knots in the middle or subjected to in the winches. contact information for seafarers’ centres those which were twisted had far less ”You must also watch out for defor- around the world, and quickly talk to the strength and should be discarded accor- med links. If a link is damaged, the nearest mission or the Seafarer help-line. ding to the report, regardless of their chain must be replaced,” says Peter The app is available for Android-phones condition in general. Brand new lashing Andersson. and Blackberrys, and is also being adapted straps were also tested. ”They were not Linda Sundgren for iPhones. At itfglobal.org , ”news online” you can find more information about the app and how to download it. (ITF) continuing from page 3 Held hostage for three years - recently released popular on ships with automatic moo- The crew of the Panama-flagged ship Ice- ring gear. But the good elasticity also berg 1 was released recently after being held means the risk of a powerful recoil if hostage for almost three years by Somali the hawser breaks. Other disadvantages pirates. One chief mate is still missing and are its high density, that means it sinks one seaman committed suicide while in cap- in water, and its sensitivity to sunlight. tivity. There is no more information about Two other common types are eight- the release of the Danish seamen who have strand polypropylene hawsers and eight been held captive in Somalia for more than and twelve-strand polyolefin hawsers. two years. At the same time, statistics show These materials can withstand sunlight that pirate attacks off Somalia fell sharply relatively well, are relatively durable in 2012 and the number of ships captured and they float. was halved. Products which are becoming more This machine is from 1939. (LS) and more common on the market are hawsers made from HMPE or UHMPE less wear surface in the hawsehole and fibre. They are light, soft and smooth lies in closer coils on a winch-drum, in the hand. They float and do not which reduces friction. absorb water, and stretch significantly ”It is very important to make regular Sjöfartens Arbetsmiljönämnd är gemensamt organ för Sjöfartens Arbetsgivareförbund, less than other hawsers (5 % compared checks on the condition of the hawse- Sjöbefälsföreningen och SEKO sjöfolk with up to 25 %). hole. If steel hawsers were previously ”This is as strong as a cable,” says used for mooring, the surface of the Sjöfartens Arbetsmiljönämnd Tore and lifts up an HMPE hawser. hawsehole must be ground and polis- Box 404, 401 26 Göteborg “Previously it was expensive, but now hed, otherwise fibre hawsers can be rui- Tel: 031-62 94 00 that more companies are producing it, ned on the first mooring,” says Mikael. E-post: [email protected] the price has become more reasonable.” The breaking strength of a hawser Hemsida: www.san-nytt.se It is also important to adapt the depends on the fibre strength and Ansvarig utgivare: Lars Andersson, SARF choice of hawser to its area of use, quantity of material per metre. The Redaktör: Linda Sundgren handling and the technical equip- harder the braiding or twisting, the tel 08-540 645 15, [email protected] ment. In roller hawseholes, six-strand more compact and durable it becomes. Redaktionskommitté: or round-braided ropes work well. For ”The amount of material is decisive. Karl-Arne Johansson, SEKO sjöfolk braided designs, the Panama hawsehole This is the reason why hawsers are often Mikael Huss, Sjöbefälsföreningen is recommended (located in the mid- sold at a price per kilo,” says Tore. Johan Marzelius, Sjöbefälsföreningen Offentliganställda stem or the stern), while braided haw- Linda Sundgren sers work best on winches with a split- San-nytt framställs med bidrag från Sjöfartens Arbetsmiljöstiftelse barrel. Six-strand hawsers work best on automatic winches. A round hawser has Produktion: Breakwater Publishing Tryck: Lindgren & Söner, Göteborg 2013