CANAL safety knife edge
A tug at work on the
Panama Canal.
IMAGE: UCOC
FINLANDS SJÖFART J SUOMEN MERENKULKU 27
Then in November 2017, a tugboat crew member
assisting in maneuvering vessels through the locks died of
head injuries during a line-handling incident in the Aguas
Claras locks. Some tugboat captains believed that fatigue
and lack of procedures might have played a part in that
accident as well, according to ITF.
TURN OF THE SCREW
Since these accidents, in two separate actions, ACP has
reduced tug crew levels. In April 2018, ACP removed a
third seaman from the tugs, leaving two captains, two
seafarers, an engineer and an oiler without any consultation
with UCOC.
‘Tug captains came to work at midnight and a clerk told
them that there was a reduction in the crew,’ UCOC’s
offi cials said. ‘However, the traffi c controllers, the clerks at
the offi ce, the port captains and all the operations hierarchy
all the way to the administrator Quijano knew about it.’
That move was an aberration by ACP management,
which should have followed specifi c regulation and
protocols for vessel manning, UCOC offi cials said.
In July 2018, ACP also removed the second, or back-up,
captain, who was present during transits of the new locks
since their inauguration in 2016.
Tugboat captains reported to ITF that the reduction in
crew, particularly the removal of the second captain,
increased their workload and their subsequent fatigue while
working schedules that they had already found fatiguing.
Removing the second captain also eliminated opportunities
for them to take breaks during transits through the
new locks, when vessel control was continuously necessary.
Captains complained that they are unable to use the
toilet, eat, or address other personal needs, when necessary,
during vessel assists. To avoid the need to go to the
toilet they have avoided drinking water and eating while
operating the tugs and their hydration has been defi cient,
further jeopardising their health.
The ITF report found that ACP created a single-point
failure in tugboat operations when it removed the second
Captain, at a time when the likelihood of errors was
already high.
‘In effect, ACP has increased the likelihood of captain
errors by maintaining fatigue-inducing schedules, and then
it increased the likelihood that the resultant errors would
lead to catastrophic accidents by removing the one
element that could reduce the likelihood of captain errors
from becoming accidents, the second captain.’
In conclusion, the ITF said that ACP has a safety culture
that ‘degrades safety’. It made several recommendations to
the government of Panama enabling it to maintain a
minimal level of safety in Panama Canal operations, and to
reduce the risk to the health of its tugboat operators.
END OF THE LINE
UCOC says the persecution of its members continues
despite a change in ACP senior management that showed
A
13 union activists are suspended for
disputing working conditions at the
expanded Panama Canal.