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Should Zodiac question the Napoli report?

RIGHT on cue, Zodiac Maritime Agencies issued a statement on behalf of the owner of the MSC Napoli which points to “some inaccuracies” in the Marine Accident Investigation Branch report. These “would benefit from further technical review.”
Perhaps there has been a small misunderstanding. The MAIB investigation looked at specifics and discovered bad practice of a general nature. Zodiac was recommended to review its safety management system and auditing procedures; Zodiac was recommended to advise its masters to take heed of heavy weather; Zodiac was recommended to consult with class whenever there is doubt about whether a defective piece of machinery was critical to the venture; and Zodiac was recommended to get its masters to make sure pilots know about factors that affect manoeuvrability or stability.
The company’s use of the phrase “some inaccuracies” is lame. What inaccuracies? Would they change the overall tenor of the report? Do they let operator Zodiac and owner Metvale and off the hook? Not for one moment. This is not the first time that the MAIB has highlighted serious safety-critical failings on a Zodiac-operated ship: perhaps it’s time the Maritime and Coastguard Agency took a closer look at Zodiac’s UK-registered vessels.
However, there is a danger that the balance of the Napoli report is lost through aggrieved parties jumping on the bandwagon to kick Zodiac. Allan Graveson, senior national secretary of Nautilus UK, is fully justified in calling for “rapid and concerted action” to be taken to address the shortcomings in container loading and ship stability that were identified.
This vessel was being pushed to and beyond acceptable operational limits, says Graveson, and it was another of the MAIB’s recommendations that operators should be encouraged to stick to operational limits on hull stress as set by class societies. However, rather than being the damning indictment of Zodiac it might have been, the Napoli report was a wider indictment of the way container shipping is run.
MSC Napoli’s structural design flaw, which was discovered last December, has been identified in 12 other ships. It is shameful that the industry has failed to recognise the benefits of best practice, and has instead tried to dampen the strength of the MAIB report. Failing that, individual companies and organisations are known to have set up obstacles to changes in the way container shipping is run. There are no technical inaccuracies, and the investigators are right to stand their ground.

Comments to letters@fairplay.co.uk

18:40 30 Apr