Bourbon Dolphin

Dyflin

Dyflin

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Inquiry raises questions

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The maritime inquiry into the sinking of the "Bourbon Dolphin" will be followed on Friday by the naming of an investigative commission that will examine the circumstances around the tragedy.
The anchor handling vessel "Bourbon Dolphin" capsized and sank off the Shetlands earlier this month.

The inquiry that began Wednesday in Ålesund raised at least as many questions as it answered about the accident off the Shetlands that resulted in the death of eight persons.

Maritime inspector Nils-Ivar Sørdal had his debut in the position for the nearly 11-hour hearing.

"All material from the maritime inquiry will be given to the commission. In my opinion the inquiry provided much valuable information that will be very helpful in the investigative commission's further work," Sørdal said.

One question that will need to be answered is why the "Bourbon Dolphin", which was to have been an assisting vessel, operated as the main vessel during the anchoring operation on the drilling rig Transocean Rather. It remains unknown who made this decision, and why.

The captain responsible for the other anchor handling vessel, "Highland Valour", owned by Gulf Offshore and registered in London, was not present at the hearing. The person in charge of the operation aboard the Transocean Rather, owned by the world's largest drilling company Transocean, was absent.

"The inquiry aimed to question some of the survivors as quickly after the accident as possible. If we were to bring the companies mentioned here in it would be necessary to take more time," Sørdal told news agency NTB.

The first mate of the "Bourbon Dolphin" testified to a range of errors and failures during the operation. The "Highland Valour" reportedly pulled the anchor chain in the opposite direction requested, and that this was not the first time the London registered vessel had made mistakes.

The "Bourbon Dolphin" also appeared to have non-functioning emergency equipment and there have been questions raised about the vessel's stability.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1758077.ece
 
I agree - it will be very interesting to hear the whole unedited story ....... I just hope the right questions are asked
 
Some more articles;

Inquiry into BOURBON DOLPHIN tragedy
Inquiry begins, survivor says there is no doubt as to cause of tragedy

The inquiry into the tragic loss of BOURBON DOLHPIN and the loss of eight of her crew, including the captain and his 14 year old son, is underway in Alesund, Norway.

Three survivors were amongst the witnesses giving their accounts yesterday and key to the findings are the accounts given to the inquiry from the only survivor who was on the bridge as she capsized.

Geir Syversen was quoted in the Norwegian press before the inquiry began as saying he knows what caused the incident and that once he told his story, no-one will be in any doubts as to the cause.

Yesterday he told the inquiry that whilst working alongside another vessel, the HIGHLAND VALOUR, they got into difficulties whilst handling an anchor for the oil rig they were working with.

HIGHLAND VALOUR is an anchor handling, towing and supply vessel (AHTS) operated by Gulf Offshore North Sea of Aberdeen

He described also that during proceedings the HIGHLAND VALOUR and BOURBON DOLPHIN almost collided and that BOURBON DOLPHIN had put full power on to escape collision. He said that BOURBON DOLPHIN had to take the full burden of the chain they were handling and her thrusters were overheating as they battled with the increased strain.

At one point HIGHLAND VALOUR was radioed and was told to go northwest, but it went in the other direction and the DOLPHIN's captain took the radio and said to the other vessel "Don't you know the difference between north west and south east?"

Syversen implied that the HIGHLAND VALOUR's inability to take her share of the work left a burden on BOURBON DOLPHIN whereby it took a lot of effort to hold her against the wind and maintain position. With her difficulties increasing it became clear the vessel was in grave danger.

The captain ordered that the chain be released but, the inquiry was told, the mechanism failed to work properly and they could not get rid of it fast enough. Soon after the vessel heeled right over.

http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item500_bourbon_dolphin.htm
 
Bourbon Dolphin inquiry gets under way in Norway
News - April 27, 2007

The formal inquiry into the capsize of the AHTS Bourbon Dolphin got under way earlier this week.

The inquiry heard that the vessel capsized whilst handling an anchor with another vessel, Highland Valour.

Reports suggest that Bourbon Dolphin had recovered an anchor from the seabed and was about to lower it to a new location when the vessel ran into problems.

One of the survivors of the incident said Highland Valour had attempted five times to move an anchor, and that, on the fifth try the anchor chain dragged over the side of the AHTS.

The survivor, Geir Syversen was quoted in the Norwegian press as saying that Bourbon Dolphin and Gulf Offshore's Highland Valour "had almost collided" at one point, and that the Bourbon vessel had put on full power on to prevent a collision.

He also told the inquiry that Bourbon Dolphin had to take the full burden of the chain they were handling and her thrusters began to overheat due to the increased strain.

Highland Valour was, he claimed, radioed, and told to go northwest, but moved in the other direction.

Mr Syversen told the inquiry it quickly became clear that it was taking a great deal of effort to hold the ship in position.

The captain ordered that the chain be released but, the inquiry was told, the mechanism failed to work properly and the ship could not get rid of it fast enough. Soon after the vessel heeled over.

Other witnesses at the inquiry said Bourbon Dolphin "was not meant to handle such a heavy task," and that when the job had first been planned, the idea was that the vessel was to be assisting, not carrying the main load.

http://www.oilpubs.com/oso/article.asp?v1=6280
 
there are two simple questions here - were the towing pins up and locked, and were the quarter pins up.

and lots of complicated ones

whatever the scenario, if these two critical items (towing pins and quarter pins) were up then it would be impossible for the anchor chain to ride up the barrier in the prevailing weather conditions - which ultimately caused the vessel to capsize. if they were not up then why ?

as to weight, 1000m 0f 3 i/2 in chain weights about 100 tons, plus the anchor of up to 35 tons ........ these are static weights - dynamic loading will depend on the activity the vessel was doing at the time. all modern ahts vessels are designed to take this load over the barrier as a worse case scenario.
if she was using a riser pennant then the dead-weight loading would be much less - so back to the dynamic forces

stability - yes but any experienced ants captain would look at this as an important issue ......... BUT, were hatches/doors left open ?

emergency tow release ..... a new vessel would have had this tested on its acceptance trials (about a year previously), it releases the hydraulic pressure on the very powerful winches and allows the load to be shed rapidly ..... was the button released prematurely, did the local release button in the winch space work ? ....... was the emergency system known and practiced by the deck crew ?

capsize thrust vector - what was the vessel doing whilst the massive load was over the barrier ...... was she in dp or manual, who was maneuvering the vessel at the time, how did it take 'about 5 mins' to capsize ...... even - what was the experience of the person responsible for maneuvering the vessel on the bridge at the time of the incident ..... even - was the captain on the bridge during the incident or later after the severe list occurred, what did he do ......

were there minimum chain loadings to ensure the chain was kept off the bottom ?
what was said at the pre -rig shift meeting regards each vessels responsibilities
what hours of work had been worked prior to the incident, and what manning ....... what was the experience of the rig crew, and the officer in charge of the bridge on the highland valour ............I could go on

but hence my earlier post as to whether the questions asked would cover the reasons why


and so on ....... /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
 
'No single factor' behind fatal vessel accident

Eight persons were killed, including the son of the vessel's captain, when the anchor-handling vessel overturned about 75 nautical miles northwest of Scotland.

The Bourbon Dolphin was owned by Bourbon Offshore Norway, a subsidiary of French firm Bourbon. It was assisting the drilling rig Transocean Rather when it capsized and later sank on April 12 last year.

The commission released a report of its investigation into the accident on Friday, and claimed no single factor caused the vessel to capsize. Rather, a series of "unfortunate circumstances" were behind the accident, the commission said, with many of them linked to Bourbon Offshore and Transocean.

Owning firm Bourbon Offshore, the report claimed, should have evaluated the Bourbon Dolphin's limits more critically. The firm, for example, hadn't investigated unexpected problems with the vessel's stability two months before the accident occurred.

Nor did Bourbon Offshore make enough demands on the competence of its crew. Captain Oddne Remøy, for example, didn't get enough time from either the vessel’s owner or its operator to become sufficiently familiar with his crew and the vessel itself before they tried to move an anchor for the Transocean Rather.

The commission investigating the accident was appointed by the Norwegian government and was led by Inger Lyng, a judge for the Hålogaland appeals court.

Aftenposten English Web Desk/NTB

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2333417.ece

Detailed preliminary report here:
http://bourbon-online.com/media/dolphin/Dolphin_report_080328.pdf
 
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