IMPROVING THE TRAINING OF CREWS OF VESSELS USING THE POSSIBILITIES OF MANEUVERING IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS
The article is aimed at improving the safety of the ship in sea and river accidents. The existing requirements of SOLAS 74 and other documents to ensure security and safety of life at sea require regular training of crews, including conducting shipboard training and drills for emergency situations. These types of training are supplemented and enhanced by the requirements of the particular Maritime administrations.The analysis of Maritime disasters such as the sinking of the liner “Costa Concordia” and the ferry “Sewol”, as well as other accidents involving loss of ships and many human lives, the shows they are based on significant shortcomings in the training of crews for action in specific emergency situations.In this article, we propose conducting a maneuver of change course (circulation) to the side of holes and/ or list of the vessel when the cargo shift and/or damage to the hull. This maneuver, which for ease of use by seamen may be called “a Course in the direction of the list (hole)” if it is done in a timely manner, with sufficient water area for maneuvering, can help reduce previous list, straighten the ship, and facilitate follow-up activities to rescue the ship, its passengers and crew in sea and river accidents. To confirm the possibility of maneuver, “a Course in the direction of the list (hole)” at the beginning of the rescue operations during the shift of cargo and/ or receiving holes of a vessel, the authors performed the analysis of the effectiveness of its application in the most well-known accidents and disasters on sea and river ships, such as the crash of the liner “Costa Concordia”, the death of the ferry “Sewol”, the death of the ship “Bulgaria”, the crash of the trawler “ far East” and others. The analysis shows high efficacy of timely fulfillment of this maneuver, as the first stage of rescue operations, which could reduce the danger or prevent the flooding of the vessel. An additional advantage of the maneuver “a Course in the direction of the list (hole)” as the first stage of rescue operations during the shift of cargo and/or receiving damage to the ship is that it does not interfere with the conduct of other operations to rescue the ship, its passengers crew, such as ballasting, preparing rescue equipment to abandon ship, provided by the existing requirements. The inclusion of maneuver “Course in the direction of the list (hole)” as the first stage of rescue operations during the shift of cargo and/or receiving hole in the vessel hull in shipboard drills and exercises of the crew will improve the safety of the vessel and will provide an opportunity to reduce the risk of sea and river disasters. Development of application of maneuver “Course in the direction of the list (hole)” in the course of exercises and training for emergency situations at the shift of freight and/or receiving holes of the vessel will reduce the possibility of loss of ships, their passengers and increase the efficiency of crew training in sea and river accidents.