BOURBON DOLPHIN |
Ulstein defends BOURBON DOLPHIN
design
Vessel exposed to more
difficult conditions than it was designed for, says CEO...
Ulstein Group, the designers and builders of the tragic BOURBON
DOLPHIN which capsized last year with the
loss of eight lives, have issued a statement defending the design of
the vessel.
“The Commission of Inquiry has done a thorough job after being given
the important and difficult job of identifying the reasons for the
capsizing and sinking of the Bourbon Dolphin on April 12 last year. We
feel that the report is comprehensive and detailed in many areas. The
Commission points to a series of related circumstances acting together
to cause the loss of the Bourbon Dolphin,” says Ulstein Group Deputy
CEO Tore Ulstein.
This follows criticism from the Norwegian inquiry which reported last
week. The inquiry held that there were a number of factors involving
all parties that led to the tragedy, including: "The anchor-handling
conditions prepared by the shipyard were not realistic...Nor did the
Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s regulatory system make any
requirement that these be approved.”
Tore Ulstein said, “Ulstein Verft has followed all of the applicable
rules and stipulations in the building of the ship, and we see that
the Commission’s conclusions did not put forward any recommendations
for changes to the existing regulations. It is clear from the report
that there are not any faults in the design of the ship. The vessel
was exposed to more difficult conditions than it was designed for.”
Responding to the inquiry's questioning whether stability challenges
were not sufficiently communicated from the shipyard to the ship-owner,
he said,
“Ulstein delivered an approved stability manual with examples of
realistic conditions. In such a manual it isn’t possible to provide an
exhaustive list of conditions, as that would make the guide too
comprehensive. Current conditions outside of those that are specified
in the stability manual shall be calculated manually on board the
ship. This includes not least anchor handling. A tool that can help
the crew with this task is the load calculator that was installed
onboard. Here the crew can enter the relevant conditions into the
calculator at any point in time, and then receive an immediate answer
back,” says Tore Ulstein.
On the question of the ship not have sufficient stability under the
given loading conditions the CEO responded:
“This would have been the case for every ship, and it was also a fact
here. When a ship’s limitations are exceeded, there can be fatal
consequences
“The rationale of having a load calculator onboard is so that one can
in advance calculate and be attentive of alternating extreme loads
that the ship is exposed to under demanding marine operations.
“Ulstein will continue to carry out our work on our ships with a high
degree of safety and security. Even before the accident took place
Ulstein took part in a research project involving demanding marine
operations together with other serious actors in the maritime cluster,
as an element of our continuous focus on safety in such operations.
This work has lead to additional reinforcements in the aftermath of
the tragic accident,” he says.
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