Room for improvement in maritime rescue capabilities for major accidents

The Viking Line ship­ping com­pa­ny’s pas­sen­ger-car ferry M/​S Amorella drifted out of the ship­ping lane and touched bot­tom sev­eral times on the Apteekkari ship­ping lane in the Arch­i­pel­ago Sea on 20 Sep­tem­ber 2020. The ac­ci­dent was caused by a tech­ni­cal mal­func­tion. The ship was in­ten­tion­ally grounded at the shore of a nearby is­land to sta­bilise the sit­u­a­tion and evac­u­ate the pas­sen­gers.

An investigation revealed shortcomings in the maintenance programmes of the vessel’s critical equipment.

“There is room for improvement in ensuring the functioning of systems identified as critical to the vessel’s operation, especially at the component level. In this case, this was demonstrated by the valve of the Amorella’s propeller pitch control unit. The functioning and maintenance and replacement needs of critical components must be monitored more systematically, in a way that takes their operating conditions into account. This requires closer cooperation between the equipment manufacturers and suppliers and the end user”, says Investigator-in-Charge Risto Haimila.

As a result of the investigation, Safety Investigation Authority Finland will also address the development of maritime rescue capabilities in the event of a major accident.

”In this case, the Maritime Rescue Sub-Centre took nearly half an hour to give the first-phase alert. There were problems in communications with the vessel in distress, and all operators were not notified immediately about the incident. It is clear that we cannot keep X people just sitting at the ready all the time, but something must be done about the situation, so that we will be prepared to act faster to launch rescue operations in the event of an accident”, says Executive Director, Professor Veli-Pekka Nurmi of Safety Investigation Authority Finland.

Safety Investigation Authority Finland issues four safety recommendations as a result of the investigation. Two of the recommendations are for Viking Line Oyj. These recommendations concern vessel maintenance and cooperation between the bridge and engine control room. In addition, the Safety Investigation Authority recommends that the Finnish Border Guard improve maritime rescue capabilities for major accidents with regard to resourcing, forming a picture of the situation, giving the alert and assigning tasks. The last recommendation is for the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency: Tasks related to vessel inspections have been transferred to classification societies, which need application instructions from the authority for assessing the navigation safety impact of bridge changes.

Further information:

Mr. Risto Haimila, Investigator-in-charge, tel. +358 2951 50730

Dr. Veli-Pekka Nurmi, Executive Director, Professor, tel. +358 2951 50701