A preliminary and hitherto unpublished Isle of Man Registry preliminary report found that the CEG Orbit (IMO 8906224), ran aground off the Isle of Man on August 26th 2021
because the chief officer urgently needed to visit the washroom.
The vessel ran aground at Cranstal, Isle of Man, shortly after midnight on August 26th. The Laxey Towing Co deployed the tug Wendy Ann, assisted by the Liverpool based tug CT Vector, which pulled the vessel off the beach early on August 27th during the high tide. Before, diggers had cleared some of the boulders around the ship to make it easier to
tow it back into the water. Once refloated, the vessel was towed to the South Quay of Douglas for diving teams to survey the hull. The five crew members remained on board throughout the time, due to the island’s Covid protocols. The first refloating attempt, during the afternoon of August 26th, had failed.
The ship had set sail from Liverpool for Belfast, loaded with wheat grains. According to the Isle of Man Registry, the officer, who was in charge of the vessel, experienced a sudden sharp intestinal pain at around 02:00 on August 26th. He then had an immediate need to leave the bridge to go to the washroom, and he did so leaving the vessel unattended.
Unfortunately he did not change the vessel’s course, so it ran aground. At the time of the accident, the cargo vessel had a crew of five members, and the Master’s standing orders mentioned that the bridge must not be left unattended. Those standing orders also specifically stated that, should it becomes necessary to leave the bridge during the watch, the person on the bridge must be relieved by another before leaving
The Isle of Man Registry said that the Chief Officer also failed to follow an instruction provided by the Master by not calling him to the bridge to be temporarily relieved from his function of safe navigation. The shore of the Isle of Man would have been visible, as would the lighthouse at the Point of Ayre. The Isle of Man also requested Latvian authorities to
consider if taking any further actions is necessary.
No one was injured in the incident and no pollution was caused.
Since that time, the ship has reportedly been renamed as ‘Leila’, and registered in Cyprus.
Oddly, the report does not appear on the Isle of Man Registry web site, although a possible explanation is that the casualty investigation report is marked “preliminary”. The Freedom of Information coordinator said that it “was passed to Latvian Transport Accident and
Incident Investigation Bureau once it was decided they would take Primacy in accordance with The Casualty Investigation Code Chapter 7 “Flag State’s Agreement with Another Substantially Interested State to Conduct a Marine Safety Investigation”. The Isle of Man Tax Payers’ Alliance said that it had uncovered the unpublished report, and it can be found at:
Manx TaxPayers’ Alliance uncovers report into grounding of ship on Isle of Man
At the time of the incident the 1989-built, Latvia-flagged,852 gt CEG Orbit was owned by CEG Orbit GmbH care of manager Fehn Ship Management of Leer, Germany.
Today it is listed as Cyprus-flagged, sailing under the name Leila, owned by R-B Maritime Oy care of manager Cyproservus of Limassol, Cyprus. ISM manager is Oho & G Ltd of Paralimni, Cyprus. As of July 26th the vessel was in the North Sea, sailing between Goole, UK, and Moerdijk, Netherlands,
