2. Answer the questions.

1. What was the vessel’s course and what was she carrying?

2. What was wrong with the loading operation? What was the potential risk?

3. Why didn’t Chief Officer request the stevedores to reload the vessel?

4. What happened when the vessel entered the North Atlantic?

5. What measures were taken by the crew to secure the cargo?

6. What should have been done to avoid major heeling?

7. What were the consequences of the severe weather impact?

3. Decipher the abbreviations and comment on them.

SW course____________________________________________________________________

ENE winds____________________________________________________________________

ESE wind______________________________________________________________________

AB___________________________________________________________________________

GM___________________________________________________________________________

4. Match expressions in column a with their definitions in column b.

A		B
	Air cushion	a) a group of people who work on and operate a ship
	Cargo hold	b) the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier
	Stevedores	c) a change or transfer of some commodity from one place, position to another
	Consequence	d) a demand for payment due to some contract, insurance policy, etc.
	Claim	e) the entire cargo space in the hull of a vessel
	Crew	f) workers engaged in the loading or unloading of a vessel
	Cargo shifting	g) a layer of air often used to support a machine or vehicle

5. Decide whether the statements are true (t) or false (f). Correct the wrong ones.

1. The stevedores left a lot of void space between the stacks during loading operation.__________

2. The stevedores suggested reloading but the Chief Mate refused.__________

3. Weather conditions remained windless during the whole voyage. ____________

4. The GM was lowered immediately after entering the North Atlantic._________

5. The crewmembers tried to secure cargo but without much success. ___________

6. The vessel followed the same course up to the port of destination. __________

7. The cargo damage resulted in a serious claim. ________

6. Compose a sea protest on behalf of the Master.

7. Complete an incident report (see annex) covering the following items.

1. Description of the situation;

2. Direct, root causes of the incident;

3. Remedial actions and recommendations.

PART 3

Vessel related incidents

Such incidents will involve significant sums of money and are likely to involve Hull and Machinery Underwriters as well as P&I Liability Insurers.

Whilst the potential incidents will each be dealt with separately, clearly there will be a very good chance that a number of other incidents flow directly from the initial casualty. For example, in the case of a collision, it may well be that there are people injured, maybe a fire, a spill of fuel oil from a damaged bunker tank, cargo damage and maybe a subsequent salvage operation.

Since incidents within this general category tend to involve significant sums of money and other potential loss it is very likely that surveyors and lawyers will be instructed to investigate and collect evidence. Vessel-related incidents include collision; contacts and damage to property; non-contact damage; grounding; stranding; foundering; hull and machinery – damage or failure of ship and/or its own equipment; fire and explosion.