Real Life Incident: Procedural Dysfunctions and Fatigue Contribute to Undocking Accident

A tanker had berthed at jetty 1 for partial unloading. There was a weak flood tide and the vessel did not use tugs. The arrival pilot discussed tug use for the vessel’s departure and informed the Master that use of a tug was mandatory for vessels departing jetty 1 on an ebb tide. The pilot also made a note in the pilotage database that the vessel had weak astern power.

Unloading proceeded normally and a departure was planned for the next day. A tug was initially booked for a 05:00 departure, but about seven hours before departure the duty pilot (not the same pilot as on arrival) called the port and highlighted