C4/​2002M Pusher STEEL and Barge BOARD (FIN), Ground­ing at Nord­valen in the Gulf of Both­nia on 1.1.2002

14.04.2004

The pusher barge combination STEEL–BOARD grounded on January 1, 2002 at the Kvarken en route from Vysotskij, Russia to Raahe, Finland. The chief officer being the Officer On Watch had fallen asleep and did not conduct the course change according the route plan in Nordvalen. He was alone in the bridge because he had relieved the look out to other work onboard. The investigation tried to find out the factors, which can be identified to cause such performance impairment that led the OOW make his decision to work alone and why he fell asleep. The investigators do not make any recommendations on this case. AIB Finland will later publish a safety study on numerous accidents at sea in which the main contributing factor has been the fatigue of the OOW.