D8/​2010M Wa­ter bus M/​S QUEEN (FIN) and pas­sen­ger ves­sel M/​S VIKING XPRS (SWE), dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tion in the Strait of Kus­taan­miekka on 20 July 2010

24.09.2012

The M/S VIKING XPRS had departed on her scheduled route from Helsinki to Tallinn. When the VIKING XPRS approached the strait of Kustaanmiekka, the watch crew noticed the water bus M/S QUEEN turning in front of her bow. The QUEEN was heading from King’s Gate towards the Vallisaari shore on the other side of the fairway. This resulted in a dangerous situation. There were, however, no damages.

After the incident the VIKING XPRS continued her journey towards Tallinn in accordance with her voyage plan. After clearing the strait of Kustaanmiekka, the VIKING XPRS informed Helsinki VTS about the incident.

The QUEEN continued her sightseeing tour and after it had ended, she returned to her port of departure. After the vessel had moored at the quay by the Market Square, the police, the Coast Guard and later a maritime inspector came there due to a notification given by the VTS.

In the strait of Kustaanmiekka, the breadth of the fairway is 110 metres. This means that the safety margin to the cliffs is only slightly more than one vessel breadth. When the QUEEN started turning across the Kustaanmiekka channel in front of the King’s Gate at approx. 11.48, the VIKING XPRS was less than two vessel breadths away and proceeding at the speed of approx. 12 knots. It is clear that the safety margins of the channel area are inadequate with reference to other vessel traffic. This applies both to oncoming traffic and to traffic proceeding in the same direction.

The investigators recommend that the obligation to participate in vessel traffic services, which currently applies only to vessels over 24 metres engaged in commercial traffic, would be extended to apply to all vessels engaged in commercial traffic except for the duty to report to the VTS.

In this way such vessels engaged in commercial traffic, which are not obliged to report on the VTS area, would, however, continuously listen to the VHF channel of the local VTS and could follow traffic related notices and traffic instructions.

In addition, the investigators recommend to the Finnish Transport Safety Agency that it recommend that all vessels engaged in passenger traffic acquire either a B class AIS device or at least an AIS receiver connected to an integrated chart display.

Furthermore, the investigators recommend that the authority responsible for vessel traffic specify the areas with passing and overtaking prohibitions which are in force on the VTS areas and inform about them more widely than currently.