Water ingress prompts disruption warning

A CASE of water getting into the steering gear compartment of cement carrier Goliath (IMO 9036430) has prompted a warning about the risks from “disruption of normal routine”. Goliath, an Australian-flagged ship owned and operated by CSL Australia, was sailing from Melbourne to Devonport at the time of the incident on 7 March 2018. According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, about 5.30pm on 7 March, the first engineer was called to the engine room where he saw water flowing over the doorstep through the open steering gear room door. The engineer discovered water coming from a scupper pipe in the steering gear room, which drained into the steering flat bilge well. This bilge well had not been fitted with an alarm and was manually drained to the engine room bilge. Consequently, it had overflowed, leading to flooding of the deck to a depth of about 10 cm. The water had to be pumped out. The Bureau registered several findings from its investigation. These included: