International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 5

Number 2

June 2011

195

1 BACKGROUND

Information from insurance companies and class

societies shows that there is rising trend in the

number of shipping incidents and accidents.

Statistics for vessels in Norwegian waters and

vessels sailing under the Norwegian flag confirm

this tendency. Data from the Norwegian Coastal

Administration list annual 80 – 100 groundings in

Norwegian waters. Capsizes and sinkings of small

fishing vessels are numerous and result in many

losses of life at sea in Norwegian waters. In view of

the forecasted increase in traffic volume (Arctic

Council, 2009), (Ministry of the Environment, 2006)

related to Arctic oil and gas production, export of

ores and other minerals and possible commercial use

of the Northern Sea Route, the Norwegian

authorities have identified a need for greater efforts

to raise the level of safety for shipping in Norwegian

waters, particularly in the north. This paper first

discusses current safety levels for shipping in

Norwegian waters using the available statistics on

maritime incidents and accidents. Some cases will

be described to illustrate situations in which

contingency planning resources were able to prevent

serious accidents. The “Full City” and “Langeland”

incidents in July 2009 are taken as examples of

emergency response resources being inadequate to

prevent major disasters.

Section 3 focuses on the outcomes of a

Norwegian pilot study of reducing the risk of

shipping accidents in Norwegian waters. This study

is being managed by MARINTEK on behalf of the

Norwegian Coastal Administration and the

Executive Committee for Northern Norway. The

outcome of this study will provide guidelines for

further Norwegian work on safety at sea.

Section 4 discusses follow-up activities in

Northern Norway, bilateral collaboration related to

the Barents Sea region and the preparation of a

Northern North Atlantic collaborative project on

safety at sea, which will involve partners from

Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland,

Canada and USA.

The final part of the paper relates Norwegian

activities to ongoing IMO Polar Code work and

initiatives taken by Arctic Council to improve search

and rescue operations in the Arctic.

2 CURRENT SAFETY- LEVELS FOR SHIPPING

IN NORWEGIAN WATERS

2.1 Accident statistics

The pilot project “A holistic approach to safety at

sea” reviewed sources for information on marine

accidents in Norwegian waters (Berg, Kjersem and

Kvamstad, 2010). One important source of

information is the statistics prepared by the

Norwegian Maritime Administration. Figure 1

provides an overview, with the data divided into

three classes: groundings, collision with quays and

other types of marine casualties. As can be seen

there has been a slight increase in both groundings

and quay collisions in the course of the past five

Safety at Sea – a Review of Norwegian

Activities

T. E. Berg & B. Kvamstad

Norwegian Marine Technology Research Institute, Trondheim, Norway

F. Kjersem

Norwegian Coastal Administration

ABSTRACT: This paper offers a brief review of recent and ongoing Norwegian activities aimed at improving

safety at sea, focusing primarily on waters under Norwegian administration. Our discussion of international

activities is mostly limited to ongoing IMO Polar Code efforts and Arctic Council search and rescue topics.

196

years. Information on maritime accidents in

Norwegian waters information has also been

collated by insurance companies (CEFOR),

Norwegian Sea Rescue, the Accident Investigation

Board Norway (http://www.aibn.no/marine/reports),

Telenor Maritime Radio, the Governor of Svalbard

and the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway

(accidents involving the offshore petroleum sector).

When we compare Norwegian and international

statistics, it turns out to be difficult to obtain

information about the underlying causes of accidents

in most reporting schemes. The pilot project

concluded that more effort should be put into

drawing up better reporting schemes. The reports of

the Accident Investigation Board Norway

incorporated learning elements that could be of

general interest for shipping companies.

Figure 1. Ship accidents first 6 months 2000 – 2010 by

accident types (courtesy of Norwegian Maritime

Administration).

2.2 Findings of accidents analysis

Indepth investigations by the Accident Investigation

Board Norway provide more information on

accident causes and make specific safety

recommendations with a view to improving safety at

sea based on their findings. These recommendations

frequently point to lack of proper crew training,

inefficient and/or unclear bridge management, lack

of electronic chart system updates and unsatisfactory

operating procedures.

2.3 Some illustrative cases

The cargo vessel MV Full City grounded at the

Sastein anchorage in Telemark, southern Norway, in

the early morning of 31 July 2009 (Figure 2). After

arriving at the anchorage anchors were dropped at

the position shown in Figure 2. Five shackles (137

m) of the starboard anchor chain were in water when

the master reported back to Brevik VTS. The anchor

position was 0.9 nautical miles from the nearest

shore at a depth of approximately 20 – 22 m. At the

time of anchoring the wind was near gale force from

the southwest and it deteriorated during the evening.

The nearest weather stations showed severe gale to

storm with highest measured wind speeds of 48 – 54

knots. Hindcast calculations indicated a wave height

of 6 – 8 m south of Sastein. Around midnight the

ship's officers observed that the ship was drifting. It

has later been estimated that the vessel was drifting

at 2 – 3 knots and was less than 0.3 nautical miles

from land when the engine was started. Some six

minutes after the engine was started the ship

grounded, the engine room was flooded and the

main engine stopped. Later investigations showed

that both flukes of the anchor had broken off when

the vessel was dragging anchor.

Figure 2. MV Full City grounding during a summer storm in

July 2009 (Courtesy of Accident Investigation Board,

Norway).

The small cargo vessel MV Langeland got into

difficulties in the same storm, en route from Moss in

Norway to Karlshavn in Sweden (Figure 3).It was

heading for shelter in the Swedish Koster Fiord

when communication with the vessel was lost. The

Swedish authorities mounted a search and rescue

operation. After some time, lifevests and the

emergency beacon were found floating in the water.

A ROV from the Swedish Navy found the sunken

vessel in 108 m of water. Six men lost their lives in

this accident.

197

Figure 3. Planned sailing route for MV Langeland

Another illustrative case is the collision followed

by grounding of the fishing vessel Hundvåkøy

(March 2010). The vessel is a 1443 GRT, 69 m

Norwegian purse seiner, which was sailing

southbound through Finnsnesrenna in Northern

Norway, fully loaded with 1,400 tonnes of capelin,

when it met Hordafor 4 in the narrow passage

between the Island of Senja and the mainland

(Figure 3). Hordafor 4 is a cargo ship of 65 m,

transporting fish feed and raw materials for fish

farms along the coast. The vessels collided at 8 am

and Hundvåkøy suffered major hull damage that

flooded the engine room. This produced a significant

starboard list and the vessel was grounded some 500

m south of Finnsnes Bridge. The crew abandoned

ship and were picked up by a passing fishing vessel.

No injuries resulted from the accident. A prompt

inspection by the Norwegian Coastal Administration

resulted in a decision to patch the large hole in the

hull with a Miko plaster. Both of the Coastal

Administration vessels attending the incident, M/V

North Crusader and M/V Harstad, were carrying a

Miko Salvage Kit from which it was possible to

select a six- by two-metre “hat-shaped” patch and, in

less than six hours, secure it to the hull to cover the

hole. As a result, virtually all of the catch was saved

and transferred to other vessels, and the engine room

was pumped dry. This enabled the Hundvåkøy to be

refloated and towed about 15 nm to the NATO quay

at Sørreisa for more permanent repairs.

Salvage experts who attended the incident believe

that without the patch, the trawler would almost

certainly have capsized and sunk. This would have

resulted in a costly recovery operation and a risk of

pollution in a sensitive Arctic region

Figure 4. Hundvåkøy accident (courtesy of Norwegian Coastal

Administration).

The last example concerns an offshore towing

operation. During the return tow of the Hutton

platform legs (Figure 5) from Murmansk to Europe

the tow entered encountered harsh weather off the

coast of Finnmark in Northern Norway. Towing

speed was reduced to around 1 knot against a head

sea. After some time the towline broke and one of

the Norwegian Emergency Towing Vessels operated

by the government was called to assist the drifting

unit. They were able to connect an emergency

towing line and helped the towing vessel to bring the

offshore structure into Honningsvåg to reinforce its

sea fastenings before the tow was allowed to

continue south along the Norwegian coast.

198

Figure 5. Towing of Hutton leg structure into port of Hon-

ningsvåg for reinforcement of sea fastenings (courtesy Ulf

Klevstad, Norwegian Coastal Administration).

3 OUTCOMES FROM A PILOT STUDY OF

SAFETY AT SEA

In response to questions on safety at sea in

Norwegian waters, MARINTEK was requested by

the Maritime Forum North organisation to lead a

pilot project that would take a holistic view of safety

at sea. The project was sponsored by the Executive

Committee for Northern Norway and the Norwegian

Coastal Administration. A reference group

representing governmental bodies, non-

governmental organisations and commercial stake-

holders was set up to gather information on known

issues of safety at sea and new challenges that could

be related to a forecast increase in petroleum and

shipping activity in the High North. The study listed

five themes that needed to be studied:

− Increased understanding of and insight in

accidents at sea

− Surveillance and monitoring of traffic at sea

− National and international efforts on safety at sea

− Contingency planning resources and

infrastructure

− Training and education, and increased

competence in maritime sector and contingency

planning organisations

Some of the main challenges identified for marine

operations in the High North were the lack of high-

quality charts, lower quality of metocean forecasts

compared to North Sea standards, reduced

communication availability and lack of emergency

response infrastructure. Table 1 lists some of the

challenges identified under the five topics.

Table 1. Identified challenges - safety at sea

Topic

Challenges

Increased

understanding of and

insight in accidents at

sea

Today’s available statistics do not

identify the root of causes for the

accidents.

Incidents and near accidents which

could lead to serious situations are

not registered in public statistics.

Surveillance and

monitoring of traffic at

sea

Communication and tracking

systems in the Arctic do not offer

sufficient performance and capacity

to meet todays and future

communication and surveillance

requirements.

Information exchange often

redundant and ineffective. In some

cases actors involved in e.g. a search

and rescure (SAR) operation owns

information which could be of use

for other actors who are unaware of

its existence.

National and

international efforts on

safety at sea

Changes in international rules and

regulations for safety at sea are

mainly made by the International

Maritime Organisation (IMO).

However due to e.g. difference in

national interests the decision-

making process is slow.

There are many recommendations

and guidelines for Arctic operations,

but very few mandatory regulations.

Contingency planning

resources and infra-

structure

Excessive response time and too few

contingency planning resources

present a crucial challenge in the

Arctic. Response time is extremely

important due to low temperatures

and harsh weather conditions.

There is potential for raising the

level of service by optimizing the

available emergency preparedness

resources and infrastructure.

Important information for vessels at

sea is often poor, such as ocean,

meteorological, hydrological and

bathymetric data. Poor information

input is a poor basis for decision-

making.

Training and

education, and

increased competence

in maritime sector and

contingency planning

organisations

There are no institutions that edu-

cate SAR personnel with specific

competence in operations in harsh

arctic weather conditions.

Recruiting is difficult, young people

chose other professions.

Inexperienced personnel may be

incapable of coping with a stress

situation.

On the basis of the studies performed and the

challenges identified, a detailed list of

recommendations for future work and research

topics was drawn up. The following list summarises

the main recommendations and topics which ought

to be followed up after the end of the project:

− Establish a national (Norwegian) forum for

working with emergency related issues and

improved safety at sea. This forum should be

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closely associated with the Norwegian Coastal

Administration's competence centre for

contingency planning, safety at sea and

surveillance.

− Further development, strengthening and

modification of contingency planning

infrastructures in order to meet future rises in

maritime activities in the Arctic.

− Improve the interaction between private and

public contingency planning resources.

− Improve the quality of ocean, meteorological and

hydrological data for the fishing and merchant

fleets.

Figure 6 shows the one-hour sailing time coverage

of the Norwegian coast by rescue vessels operated

by Norwegian Sea Rescue: some areas of the

northeastern coast lack coverage by these vessels.

However, the Coastal Administration has chartered

emergency response vessels for Northern Norway.

Figure 6. Coverage of vessels operated by Norwegian Sea Res-

cue (one-hour sailing time). Red areas: Covered by continuous-

ly manned rescue vessel. Yellow areas: Covered by voluntarily

manned rescue vessel (courtesy of Norwegian Sea Rescue).

4 FOLLOW-UP WORK ON SAFETY AT SEA IN

HIGH NORTH WATERS

4.1 Further work in the MARSAFENORTH project

Maritime Safety Management in the High North

(MarSafe North) is an ongoing safety related project

where MARINTEK is project manager. Kongsberg

Seatex is project owner and the project is financially

supported by the Research Council of Norway. It

will be finalized in autumn 2011. The project aims

to improve safety at sea by identifying users and

user needs in transport and advanced marine

operations in the shipping and petroleum sectors.

The project has also identified technologies for

communication, navigation, tracking and

surveillance that are capable of meetingcurrent and

future user requirements. MarSafe North has

identified a number of challenges for marine

operations in the High North which will be the basis

for recommendations for future efforts. The final

phase of the project will include work on ice drift

measurement and modeling, communication system

analysis, information modeling and feedback to

relevant national and international organizations and

institutions

4.2 Barents Secretariat project

In collaboration with Maritime Forum North, the

Norwegian Coastal Administration and the research

company Ocean Futures, MARINTEK has obtained

support from the Norwegian Barents Secretariat to

start a collaborative pilot project with Russian

Federation stakeholders on safety at sea in the

Barents Sea. The first workshop was held in

Kirkenes in mid-January 2011. The aim of the

workshop was to define the state of the art and

specify areas in which improvements to safety at sea

could be obtained. Potential topics for future

collaboration included:

− Preparing data, information, knowledge and

expertise for the new Knowledge Centre for

Emergency Response and Oilspill Contingency

Planning that has been established in Vardø by

the Norwegian Coastal Administration

− Improving search and rescue capabilities in the

Barents Sea

− Providing input to IMO's efforts on the new Polar

Code, especially dedicated competence

requirements and the development of training

tools for safe operation of ships in the Barents

Sea region.

The second project meeting will be held in the

Russian Federation in March/April 2011.

Figure 7. Estimated SAR coverage with shore based helicop-

ters in Northern Norway (Courtesy of Rescue Coordination

Centre, Bodø)

200

Figure 7 shows SAR areas covered by shore-

based helicopters in Northern Norway. The Sea

King helicopters are operated by the Royal

Norwegian Air Force. They have passed their

original expected lifetime and the procurement

process for new SAR helicopters has been initiated.

Norwegian SAR helicopters have been involved in

marine rescue operations in the Russian sector of the

Barents Sea.

4.3 Nordic Atlantic Cooperation project

The Nordic Atlantic Cooperation (NORA) has

approved a project on safety at sea in the Northern

North Atlantic region. MARINTEK is leading a

consortium of partners from Norway, the Faroes,

Iceland, Greenland, Canada and the USA. A revised

project description will be drawn up in early 2011

and the first project meeting is scheduled to take

place in May. The main areas of focus for this

project will be:

− Improving operational competence for personnel

involved in proactive and reactive emergency

response activities

− Optimising the use of the existing emergency

response infrastructure across national borders

− Reducing response time to reaching a ship in

distress in the Northern North Atlantic (as for the

North Atlantic Bridge route from Churchill

(Canada) to Murmansk (Russian Federation)

Part of the work of this collaborative project will

be based on the outcomes of the Arctic Council

working group on search and rescue in the Arctic re-

gion; see section 5.2 for more information..

4.4 RCN pilot project

In collaboration with Maritime Forum North and the

research organisation Ocean Futures, MARINTEK

has asked for support for a pilot project to prepare a

major research proposal for the MAROFF research

programme (Research Council of Norway, RCN) on

safety at sea in the High North. The main topics in

this proposal will be:

− Collaborative activities on knowledgesharing for

High North emergency response operations

− Additional competence requirements for seafarers

operating in polar waters

− Specification of transnational infrastructure for

search and rescue operations in polar waters.

The main project proposal will be delivered to

RCN in mid-February 2011

5 NORWAY’S PART IN INTERNATIONAL

SAFETY AT SEA EFFORTS

5.1 IMO’s Polar Code

Norway plays an important part in IMO’s ongoing

efforts to draw up an updated Polar Code. At the

54th session of the Sub-Committee on Ship Design

and Equipment, a working group under Norwegian

chairmanship worked on the development of a

mandatory code for ships operating in polar waters.

It has been agreed to utilise a risk-based/goal-based

approach including defined goals and functional

requirements supported by prescriptive provisions

where necessary. A correspondence group was set

up to provide input to DE 55, which will take place

in March 2011. The main activity of the

correspondence group was to review the hazard

matrix presented in the DE 54 document (IMO 2010

a). The report of the correspondence group was

finalized in mid-December 2010 and forwarded to

IMO as a paper for DE 55 (IMO 2010 b). The

revised hazards matrix comprises four main

elements: Environmental conditions, High latitudes,

Environmental sensitivity and Human element. The

report recommends that a new working group should

be established at DE 55. Guidance has been

requested from the DE Sub-Committee on how to

understand the concept of “additional hazards” in the

context of the Code to be developed. It is assumed

that the consequences of any hazard will have to be

investigated to determine the potential gaps in the

current Conventions and Codes to obtain the same

safety level for shipping in polar waters as in other

international waters.

5.2 Arctic Council’s Search and Rescue efforts –

based on publish information and phone calls

with Norwegian delegation leader

The Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Tromsø

(April 2009) decided to establish a task force “to

develop and complete negotiations by the next

Ministerial Meeting in 2011 of an international

instrument on cooperation in search and rescue

operations in the Arctic”. The USA and the Russian

Federation co-chair this task force (Arctic Council,

2010). Work is under way to develop a legally

binding document. The task force is at the stage of

full intergovernmental negotiations in which

“nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Even

though the most complex issues are left to the very

end, the co-chairs plan to prepare the agreement for

signature at the Nuuk (Greenland) meeting in May

2011.

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6 CONCLUDING REMARKS AND

RECOMMENDATION FOR FUTURE WORK

Safety at sea in Arctic waters introduces extra

challenges. Remoteness and lack of contingency

planning infrastructure are among the causes of

some of these additional challenges. It is therefore

important that Arctic and Antarctic coastal nations

should improve surveillance of all types of marine

traffic in their waters in parallel with improving

infrastructure and drawing up bilateral agreements

for training and infrastructure use. As the

consequences of an accident may be more severe in

Arctic waters the frequency of incidents must be

reduced to keep safety at sea at a given level.

It is important to support the IMO's ongoing

efforts to develop a mandatory Polar Code. The next

DE55 meeting in March 2011 will discuss the

hazard matrix, and it is possible that there will be a

new correspondence group after this meeting.

Norway is prepared to take a leading role in this

work.

The ongoing Arctic Council task force on search

and rescue collaboration is scheduled to deliver its

draft for a legally binding document at the

Ministerial meeting in May 2011, specifying the

responsibilities for SAR operations in Arctic waters.

However, it is important to note that operators in the

Arctic region must take precautions to reduce the

level of risk of their operations by reducing the

frequency of accidents and mitigating the

consequences of accidents that do happen.

On the basis of ongoing work in Norway we

recommend further work on:

− Improving regional collaboration to in order

optimize the efficiency of existing arctic

contingency planning resources

− Developing additional qualification requirements

for seafarers operating in arctic waters

− Developing specific training offers combined

with knowledge transfer from personnel with

cold-climate shipping experience

− Strengthening meeting places for

knowledgesharing for senior officers operating

ships in arctic waters.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

MARINTEK thanks the Norwegian Coastal

Administration, the Executive Committee for

Northern Norway and the Barents Secretariat for

their financial support for several projects that

provided the background for this paper. The

assistance of Captain Tor Husjord of Maritime

Forum North is greatly appreciated for his work to

establish stakeholder groups for Norwegian projects

on safety at sea.

REFERENCES

Arctic Council, 2009: Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment –

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Iceland, 2009

Arctic Council, 2010: Meeting of Senior Arctic Officials, sec.

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2010

Berg, T. E., Kjersem, F. and Kvamstad, B. 2010. Sjøsikkerhet

– en felles utfordring, MARINTEK, Trondheim, Norway,

November 2010.

IMO DE54, 2010: Report of the Working Group on Develop-

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IMO DE 55, 2010: Development of a Mandatory Code for

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