Failures & Blackouts

The Club's latest

looks at sudden loss of power, a problem highlighted by incidents during and after the switching to lower sulphur fuels that are now mandated in certain coastal regions. The bulletin highlights the causes of sudden loss of power and proposes mitigating procedures that ships' crew should adopt.

Main engine failures or electrical blackouts now amount to 7 per cent of the Club's third party claims property damage in monetary terms. Ships effectively out of control as a result of these problems have caused extensive damage to berths, locks, bridges, navigational marks, loading arms, cranes and gantries as well as moored ships. Costly collision and grounding claims can similarly be caused by these failures.

The Club undertook a data collection exercise and a detailed analysis of more than 700 claims. The resulting title "Risk Focus: Loss of Power" is the third in the series arising from the Club's innovative "Bowtie" risk management system.

The relevant "Bowtie" controls and hazards poster in respect of loss of power incidents is published together with the booklet in the 'Risk Management Advice' section of the Loss Prevention area of this website.