Case Study: The Fluvius Tamar

M/V Fluvius Tamar
The 90-meter long, 4200 dwt cargo vessel Fluvius Tamar Sank in the North Sea off the coast of Ramsgate, England. The Fluvius Tamar was en route from Eemshaven, Netherlands with 3,800 tonnes of magnesium oxide bound for Pasajes, Spain. The ship propulsion is a motor vessel (diesel) and was built at 2009. They were carrying heavy loads as the set sail towards their destination

As the vessel passed some 30 miles off the coast, the Fluvius Tamar ran into difficulty. The vessel unexpectedly encounter a strong gale with a speed of 50 knots, which also considered as a storm because of it speed. The direction of the wind is in northwest and it began to make the vessel to suffer on making it to their voyage. Unpreparedness and

The Officers onboard tried their best to handle the situation carefully so they could survive together with the ship. Of course the officers can’t alter ate their course due to they already meet the storm unexpectedly.

A plan should’ve been established before they depart if they know there would be a storm, a plan that would make their voyage safe and secured and if there would be a problem, everyone is on their selves and they could react thoroughly through the situation, and different alternatives and preparation could be done to make the ship survive through the storm. Means Considering the External factors should be done.

The effects of external forces may become advantageous or disadvantageous to the ship handler. It is the best that these effects are foreseen beforehand so that necessary steps to counter or make use of them during maneuver are made.

Among the external forces, the effects of the wind and current are the most important for these forces greatly affect the movement of the ship. Thus same with this issue, because of a strong wind and current, the ship didn’t survive very well. One of the variable factors why the ship fails

They could handle the situation very well based on their overview through their capabilities. This leads to despair because at the end they failed to lead their ship through the destination. This kind of mindset should be avoided, because the sea is unpredictable as always mentioned by numerous of my professors on college.

Now according to another fellow seafarer whose a 2nd mate officer, The officers should first established navigational and meteorological warnings before departure from the port. They must consider intervening externals factors; that will affect the ship’s passage. It should be noted and the position track of hurricane should be plotted.

The cargoes should be secured properly to avoid shifting during bad weather for it will affect the stability of the ship especially when it’s in motion that could capsize the ship.

And because of several problems that didn’t even mention on the article itself, then this different point of view could be the reason why the ship both the crew didn’t handle the situation very