On 16 June 2006, during Kota Pahlawan's voyage from
Singapore to Australia, a foul odour was noted coming from two
containers on board the ship. The containers were packed with
xanthates, dangerous goods which produce carbon disulphide vapours
and can spontaneously combust.
Later that day, the master informed the ship's charterer of the
'incident' and that the odour indicated that the packaging of the
xanthates was not 'gas-tight', in accordance with international
rules. He also asked for the containers to be discharged at
Brisbane, the ship's next port of call.
At 0411 on 18 June, the master reported the incident as a defect
to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). At 0720, the
ship embarked a coastal pilot and started its transit of the Great
Barrier Reef.
At 0907 on 19 June, AMSA issued a defect report and started
collecting information about the incident. At 1252, the pilot
disembarked from the ship after it had completed its transit of the
northern part of the Great Barrier Reef Inner Route.
The ship berthed in Brisbane on 22 June after an 'emergency' was
declared in the port. All eight xanthates containers on board the
ship were discharged and purged with nitrogen gas to mitigate the
risks posed by the foul smelling, highly flammable and toxic carbon
disulphide vapours. On 24 June, the master was asked to reload the
containers. He agreed on the condition that AMSA provide a written
acceptance of the proposal with regard to 'compliance' with
international rules.
By 0400 on 25 June, the xanthates containers had been reloaded
onto the ship before it sailed from Brisbane. On 6 July, the ship
discharged the last of the xanthates containers in Fremantle.
The report identifies several safety issues and the safety
actions to address them.
Marine Recommendations
[ MR20070030
] [ MR20070031
] [ MR20070032
]
Marine Safety Advisory Notices
[ MS2007014
] [ MS2007015
] [ MS2007016
] [ MS2007017
]
